The Reverend Nicholas Tweed was applauded last night, on the very day he would have had to leave the island, as the People’s Campaign held its second public forum, with economic empowerment high on the evening’s agenda.

Bermuda Industrial Union president Chris Furbert, who heads the movement alongside the pastor and Jason Hayward, the president of the Bermuda Public Services Union, hailed the “incredible first step” of obtaining a stay for Mr Tweed’s departure, as his work-permit renewal case is now being heard by the courts.

“If the Government had its way, the brother sitting on my right would be on a plane out of here,” Mr Furbert told an audience of about 60 people at Allen Temple AME Church in Somerset.

With tensions high in the aftermath of demonstrations outside of Parliament on December 2, in which opponents of the airport development project blocked MPs from entering and later clashed with police, Mr Tweed cautioned against “demonising and maligning people who are simply trying to be heard”.

Saying that civil disobedience was never used as a first option, Mr Tweed referenced the anti-segregation Theatre Boycott of 1959, adding: “Did it not prevent people from going into theatres? Was that not illegal? People have a selective memory about what constitutes civil disobedience.”

However, much of the night’s discussion centred on the predicament of jobless and economically struggling Bermudians, with Mr Hayward criticising the Government’s delay in implementing a progressive tax system that had been promised in the Throne Speech as well as last year’s Budget, and calling for “a national conversation in reference to a livable wage”.

Proposals arising from the group’s public forums are to be compiled in a blueprint to be given to “every home that wants a copy”, the union leader said.

With a General Election coming, Mr Hayward called repeatedly for the plight of Bermuda’s “have-nots” to be addressed.

“We have persons that work in the hotel industry, in people’s households and the retail sector, that make less than $8 an hour,” he said. “For a McDonald’s worker, the minimum wage is $15. We have a higher cost of living, but somehow the wages we pay our workers are substantially lower than in the United States. They have a minimum wage. We don’t.”

He said the campaign intends to bring seminars on personal financial management, education and training, and community and social involvement, as well as workshops on entrepreneurship, to hone self-reliance and the building of co-operative businesses.

Mr Hayward also called for an end to tax concessions for businesses, and the reinstatement of term limits, saying foreign employment had flourished while Bermudian jobs had declined since their removal.

He told people not to be afraid to speak out, saying the previous meeting on Tuesday night heard of people reluctant to participate in case it affected their jobs.

Several in the audience objected to the presence of The Royal Gazette, but Mr Tweed defended the freedom on the press — adding that people expected “to have what we say reported fairly and accurately”.

Many of those who spoke recounted their own economic challenges, with one woman calling for people to express themselves electronically by writing to the Government — and many supporting the idea of developing co-operative businesses.

Also prominent in the night’s discussion was the need to involve young people. “We need to teach our young kids about how we have struggled,” one senior told the room. “Because they don’t know our history.”

Mr Hayward congratulated young people who had come out for the night, telling them: “You have an audience right now; you have a platform. You can use that platform to promote positivity and move our people forward.”