by TRACY MOORE

MEDIATION TALKS are scheduled to resume today between the Barbados Workers' Union (BWU) and two employers – The Royal Shop and Sandy Lane – in an effort to end their more than month-long impasse.

However, a well-placed source told the DAILY NATION last night that The Royal Shop management had not taken part in mediation talks with the tribunal and would not do so today either.

When THE NATION contacted The Royal Shop's industrial relations consultant Collis Blackman last night, he said: "The news item deals with Sandy Lane and I don't work for Sandy Lane."

Meanwhile, retired High Court judge Leroy Inniss, who heads the mediation tribunal, said a media blackout would continue until there was a conclusion among the parties involved.

"What I can tell you is that it was agreed upon by all parties that we would not speak to the media about the talks until we have reached a decision," he said.

The tribunal, which also includes former Chief Labour Officer Mitchell Codrington and one-time head of the Barbados Private Sector Association, Chris de Caires, was set up in early March by the Minister of Labour, Senator Arni Walters, after Government averted a national strike.

On February 1, a dozen workers from The Royal Shop were dismissed after walking off the job, in support of a colleague fired for refusing to be transferred.

Five days later on February 6, 18 workers walked off the job at Sandy Lane in protest against the hotel's handling of a reported case of money missing from a guest's room.

Seventeen of them were fired while the employee at the centre of the dispute went on sick leave.

tracymoore@nationnews.com