Crucial talks between Government and the unions over spending cuts ended late last night with unions claiming an agreement had been reached by the Budget Reduction Working Group.

At 11pm Bermuda Industrial Union president, Chris Furbert told a press conference that “fruitful discussions” had taken place and that unions had come up with the extra $22 million in Government savings demanded of them.

But last night Premier Michael Dunkley told The Royal Gazette that he was “deeply disappointed” that the Bermuda Trade Union Congress had “jumped the gun” by holding the press conference.

“I was kept abreast of discussions throughout the night,” said Mr Dunkley.

“Towards the end of the evening as I was getting the updates I instructed our Government team that I did not wish anything to be said to the press until the Minister of Finance was comfortable with the final numbers.

“Unbeknownst to the Government team the BTUC made a press statement.

“I have not even seen the financial numbers. Until we get the sign off on those numbers I feel the BTUC have acted way too quickly and that is disappointing.

“I have reached out to Mr Furbert and expressed in no uncertain terms my thoughts to him. I informed him that they did not act in good faith and at the very least showed a glaring lack of courtesy. I appreciate the commitment of the working group tonight, it is indeed disappointing that it had to end like this.

“In spite of how it ended, and I will have more to comment on that later, my colleagues and I won’t let the late night events undermine our work for the people of Bermuda and the greater good of our Island home.”

The press conference, which was only attended by union members, was held at the Bermuda Public Services Union headquarters after three-and-a-half hours of discussions between union and Government representatives.

Mr Furbert said: “We invited the Premier to be here with us for this press conference but he could not be.

“We have reached the number we came here to reach. We are pretty satisfied. I was never concerned that we could not find the number.

“It now has to go back to the Premier and his Cabinet and be ratified.

“But we have got the money we were asked to get, so there is no need for furlough days and they can be taken off the table.”

Asked if furlough days had now been taken off the table Mr Furbert said: “They definitely should be taken off the table.”

The press conference followed three successive days of industrial action that caused widespread disruption to public services and schools across the island.

Everyone involved in the industrial action will return to work this morning, while public schools will reopen and the public transport system will be reinstated.

A statement released by the Ministry of Education last night added: “All public schools are back in session as of Thursday. Classes should be operating as per usual for the remainder of the week.”

Yesterday afternoon, in a delayed press conference on the steps of Cabinet, Mr Furbert, told the crowd: “I feel confident that we are going to come up with that number so that furlough days are gone, gone, gone.”

The announcement brought to an end another day which saw thousands of unionised workers from the BIU, the BPSU, the Prison Officer’s Association and the Bermuda Union of Teachers descend on Cabinet grounds to protest at Government’s refusal to take furlough days off the table completely.

At 8.30am BIU members gathered at Union Square and marched on Cabinet for the second time in three days. They joined members of the three other unions as well as some dock, Belco and BTC workers who downed tools as a show of support.

The crowd remained in the Cabinet grounds for the rest of the day during which union leaders addressed their members while the standoff with Government continued.

At 5.30pm, an hour later than planned, Premier Michael Dunkley, Mr Furbert, and other union leaders appeared on the steps of Cabinet to tell the workers that they had reached an agreement and would be returning to negotiating table.

“We have agreed to the following,” said Gary Phillips, the former director of tourism who is private sector representative in the discussions. “The Government and the Bermuda Trade Union Congress (BTUC) agree that furloughs will be considered as a last resort.

“In respect to Tuesday and Wednesday, members who have been out of work will be allowed to use their remaining furlough days.

“In the event members do not have any left, an agreement will be worked out with their respective unions.”

The Premier confirmed that the Government would try to strike an agreement with the BTUC. “The last few days have seen us expressing divided opinions on the issues at hand,” he said. “We may not have agreed on everything and sometimes that is the nature of our democracy. It does not make us any less connected as a community.

“As I indicated after Monday’s meeting, the Cabinet has identified a number of additional cost savings, which brings us closer to the target budget figure that the government needs to present a workable budget — a budget that allows us to continue the work of restoring the Government’s finances to a more solid footing. This is important so that we can do the things the people elected us to do.

“The Government and the BTUC agree that continuing the furlough day will be considered as a last resort. It is important that we now turn our attention to the work at hand which is demanded of us by the people we serve and to ensure that we continue to function; working together to restore the promise of Bermuda for all her citizens.”

Mr Furbert declared to the hundreds of union members and sympathisers that this was a good day for his movement.

“Having furloughs yesterday and today, from our point of view, that is a good compromise,” he said. “Let’s not lose sight of where we are. We have agreed to a meeting at 7pm tonight and we will not leave until we have what we need. Our voices have been heard loud and clear.

“We will work extremely hard tonight; as long as it takes. I want to thank the entire membership of the BTUC, plus all those who are not members for supporting us.

“We can now return our children back to school tomorrow. As I said to the Premier on Tuesday, my main concern is getting our children back to school.”