Bermuda: Dispute goes to arbitration as union calls off bus strike

HAMILTON, Bermuda, CMC -- Bermuda's fleet of buses will be back in service on Saturday after the powerful Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU) said it had agreed to the two-day industrial action going to arbitration.



BIU president Chris Furbert made the disclosure after a meeting with government on Friday.



Jennifer Harvey, the female driver at the centre of the industrial action, will be reimbursed for the period when she was suspended until she was fired. She will remain off the job until the arbitrator makes a ruling.



Harvey was fired for “gross insubordination”. She repeatedly refused to take a drugs test after an accident that left a passenger injured in June.



Bus operators stopped working on Wednesday in solidarity, inconveniencing locals and tourists alike.



Bus drivers are not covered under legislation requiring 21 days notice of industrial action, the Labour Department has confirmed.



Premier Paula Cox in a statement said it was important “for the government and the union to work together so that the buses resume service to the public as quickly as possible”.



The One Bermuda Alliance, the island's main opposition party, earlier called for the dispute to be sent to an arbitrator.



“The island is being held to ransom, disrupting thousands of commuters and tourists and damaging the island’s tourism reputation,” said Shadow Transport Minister Pat Gordon-Pamplin.



His situation has been allowed to spiral dangerously out of control,



Bermuda has 130 bus drivers and Transport Minister Terry Lister urged drivers who wished to carry on working to report to the bus depot after one of the drivers broke ranks with the union and reported for work on Thursday.