A fresh salvo came from the Bermuda Trade Union Congress last night in its lingering dispute with Government over whether or not acceptable cost cuts were settled on this year.

The statement hearkened back to days of industrial action and protests in January as the Government, with the latest Budget looming, put pressure on the unions to extend furlough days,

The BTUC has now released the minutes from a last-minute January 28 meeting that was held after union-led marches on Cabinet.

According to the union, the seven-page document confirms that a “sufficient amount” of cost savings were found during hours of talks that night. This contradicted remarks by Premier Michael Dunkley after the talks, in which he said targets had not been reached — and that Government would continue to explore other options for cutting costs.

The minutes depict hours of wrangling that gradually whittle cost savings to a point where the private and union sides seemingly concur that the target has been reached.

They also illustrate the pressure on the union side to go public with a definitive statement that furlough days were conclusively off the table — with the fear that after three days of protests, there was a risk of “unrest” unless the fears of Government workers could be put to rest.

The January meeting had 27 in attendance: a three-man private sector group; four representing the Government side, and 20 for the BTUC. The minutes provided give a summary of the discussions rather than a full transcript, and parts of the discussion are listed as inaudible.

However, they appear to support the case for the Budget Reduction Working Group attaining a target figure of $67 million in savings, as the three groups propose different areas to squeeze increments of savings.

For example, with $6 million in savings left to find, the group is shown calculating $500,000 in employee overheads. Police allowances are examined next but are said to be “not in play”.

Bringing the remaining cuts down to $1.9 million, Jason Hayward, the president of the Bermuda Public Services Union, is quoted as suggesting “we are home”, based on a calculation of the savings reaped by a hiring freeze.

Bermuda Industrial Union president Chris Furbert then comments that Mr Dunkley had mentioned earlier in the week that “if they were $4 to $6 million short it would not be an issue”.

The minutes continue: “[Mr Furbert] said that based on the conversation the group was only one million short.

“Mr Hayward added that the hiring freeze was a biggie and that it helped the group make the budget. He said that the unions would support the hiring freeze 100 per cent”.

After a break for discussion among the groups, Gary Phillips, on the private sector team, is quoted as saying that “first of all, let me say, we think we are there”, but cautioning that “we have to manage this process”. As the working group readied itself to leave the room, the members heard from Cabinet Secretary Derrick Binns, on the Government side.

Dr Binns cautions the group that he “would prefer that no discussions be done with the press until his principals had been advised on what had been accomplished”.

However, in the minutes, Mr Hayward is adamant that the union group must be held to its promise “not to leave the room until the savings were found and there was no furlough”. When Dr Binns queries the need for it to be done “right this minute”, BTUC representative Keisha Douglas is recorded as saying there would be unrest without it.

Both the private and Government teams then go to discuss issues with their principals in a caucus at about 10.30pm. The minutes show that at 11pm, the BTUC team was no longer present.

A public statement later made by Mr Dunkley included keeping furlough days as “a last resort” — and January closed with the BTUC accusing him, along with Finance Minister Bob Richards, of “slander” for saying that final reduction targets had not been reached.

The BTUC subsequently called on the Government to release the minutes, which they said supported their position that a target had been successfully attained.

Last night, the group declared victory, adding that the minutes also showed that the decision to cap Financial Assistance and suspend the annual Agricultural Exhibition lay with Cabinet rather than the unions.