Workers Voice

              r
o
UNITED
WE
STAND
DIVIDED
WE
FALL
V o l . 5 - N o . 6, HAMILTON, BERMUDA - FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1975 Price; 15C
for Government
A three-day seminar for Shop Stewards
and Divisional Officers of Government Div­isions
started on Tuesday, November 4 , at
Bermuda Industrial Union headquarters.
The opening session was addressed by the
two visiting Trade Unionists, Brothers Bob
A l p e i t and Laurent Enckelt (more about
them elsewhere in this edition). Brother
Stanley Lee, Education Officer, opened
the seminar and President Ottiwell Simm­ons,
gave the opening address.
Other speakers at the seminar were
Bro. Walter Sweeting, Treasurer, Bro. Noel
Woods, first Vice President of the BIU, who
spoke on "Credit Unions and Workers' Banks"
On Wednesday morning Sister Barbara
B a l l , Research O f f i c e r , talked about Wage
Claims C r i t e r i a , and Austin Wade, Assistant
Secretary General spoke on Collective Bar­gaining.
In the afternoon, the members had Gov­ernmental
Structures explained to them by
Mr. Arthur Hodgson, presently teaching a t.
the Robert Crawford School, Prospect.
Secretary General of the Union, Bro.
E. Blokeney, opened the third day with a
talk on The Role of the Shop Steward, and
in the afternoon Bro. O t t i w e l l Simmons gave
a talk on Industrial Relations.
Workers Voice asked some of those taking
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Police turn to Occult?
The Workers Voice has learned that an
eminent parapsychologist (whose fees, ac­cording
to him, are "not insubstantial"),
was recently brought to Bermuda by the loc­al
police and "taken to places where a
crime had been committed. "
For the infonnation of the layman, a
parapsychologist Is a trained, professional
investigator into the realm of para-normal
or spirit occurrences.
We wonder if his findings hod anything
to do with the recent a c t i v i t i e s of United
States frogmen off the North Shore in Dev­onshire?
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UNIONISTS HERE TO ADVISE HOTEL TEAM
part in the seminar for their opinions, and
following are some of their comments:
Bro. Donald Smith, Committee member
for the Marine & Ports Division - "Fantas­t
i c , Educational and Instructive. I hope we
have more of these. "
Bro. A . J . Conn, Asst. Shop Steward,
Bus Division - "Wonderful. I've learned a
lot in this short space of time. I look for­ward
to more seminars of this k i n d ."
Bro. Stylus H a l l , Asst. Secretary, Bus
Division - "Great. I've learned a lot and
realise that there Is much more to be learned
Bro. Roderick Bean, Shop Steward, PWD,
Dockyard - "1 have found It most education­a
l , and have learned a l o t . Hope that this
is not the first and last seminar that I have
the chance of a t t e n d i n g ."
Bro. Lawrence Jones, Chief Shop Stew­a
r d , PWD Division (who was also elected
Chairman of the Seminar Committee) - "Ex­cellent
and most Instructive. My committee
intends to suggest t h a t . In future there
should be at least two or three seminars a
year. This way we can learn so much about
(Continued on page 8)
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BIU President O t t i w e l l Simmons welcomes
Brother Laurent Enkell to Bermuda as Sister
M o l l y Burgess, Brother BobAlpert and Sis­ter
Carolyn Franklin look on.
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The Bermuda Industrial Union's Hotels ne­gotiating
team have had the advice of two
first-class men with much experience in the
f i e ld of International Trade Unionism, who
flew Into Bermuda last week.
Brother Bob Alpert is the Director of O r g ­anisation
for the Hotels, Restaurant Employees
and Bartenders Union, Local 24 in Detroit.
He t o ld us, "I am also the International O r g ­aniser
for the H o t e l , Restaurant & Bartenders
Union, A F L - C I O ."
We learned that Bob was born in Brooklyn,
New York, October 6, 1932. After high
school, he went on to get a Bachelor of Arts
degree at Brooklyn College. He became a
journeyman printer and a member of the I n ­ternational
Typographical Union in which
he was active for several years as a member
of the Locals Education Committee and In
Labour Education generally.
During this time Bob returned to school
and Studied for hisMasters degree In History,
w i t h specialisation in Labour History.
He joined the staff of the Hotel and Res­taurant
Workers Union In New York c i t y , '
Local 6 , in 1959, as Administrative Assis­tant
to the General Organiser. He told us,
" I was a c t i ve in this job for about f i ve years
and my duties took me into the areas of
business agent, negotiator, organiser and
educator."
When the New York organisation assumed
responsibility for assisting the Union in Puerto
Rico in 1964,Bob was chosen to go to Puerto
Rico to help them with problems that they
were undergoing during that time. "My res­ponsibilities
entailed t r a i n i n g , developing
and generally giving direction to rejuven -
ating our Local In Puerto Rico, known as
Local 6 1 0 " , he says. "When we got there we
found the Local In serious shape, w i t h about ,
(Continued on page 8)
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