Construction workers at the new secondary school building site are planning to confront management this morning after their pay cheques bounced again on Saturday - leaving them penniless for the weekend.

One couple had to send their children bag-packing at a supermarket so the family had some money to see them through the weekend.

Staff of general contractor Pro-Active Management Systems Ltd. travelled to the Bank of Bermuda in Dockyard on Saturday in the hope of cashing in their cheques - only to be told that they could not be accepted.

Apparently, Pro-Active had cash in the bank, however, it was in the wrong account and could not be accessed by staff or sub-contractors.

The Royal Gazette reported on Saturday how the 75 or so workers had received their wages at about 4 p.m. on Friday, instead of the usual midday.

Some workers managed to get them to the bank on time, but found that they could not be honoured.

All of the employees were told to take their cheques to the bank again on Saturday morning - when sufficient funds would be available to meet the demand - but again, the cheques bounced.

One woman called The Royal Gazette to complain yesterday that her husband had not been able to cash in his pay cheque.

The couple, who live in St. David's with their three children, had a wasted journey after they travelled by bus all the way to Dockyard on Saturday morning to the only Bank of Bermuda branch open.

"When we got to the bank, there were two other guys from the site in the queue in front of us," she said.

"The bank told us all that it could not cash our cheques - they had bounced. I spoke to the manager and he said there was nothing he could do.

"It's terrible, when you work hard all week. Pro-Active should not have handed the cheques out if they did not have enough money in the bank to cover them."

But the woman said, like many families, she and her husband were relying on the money to get through the weekend.

"We were desperate for the cash," she said.

"We basically had to send our two oldest children to the supermarket to pack groceries on Saturday and Sunday night.

"We told them the situation and they knew they did not have a choice. They made some money so we were able to get some bits and pieces to see us through.

"Hopefully, we will be able to get this all sorted out on Monday."

But the woman said men on the site had been talking about confronting management this morning, and said she would not be surprised if some men looked for other jobs.

"This has happened before, and nobody said anything then," she added.

"But people are not happy now. The men deserved to get paid. A couple of the guys said they were going to go down to the site on Monday and create a scene. They are pretty mad.

"This is not right. The guys are in a union, but I'm not sure what the union can do about it. Something needs to be done, though."

The Royal Gazette was unable to speak to general manager of Pro-Active Arthur Ebbin yesterday, but on Friday night, vice president of the Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU) Chris Furbert said the problem had been resolved and everyone should be able to cash in their cheques on Saturday.

He said the delay had arisen because Government, which owns the school site, had been late in paying Pro-Active for work carried out.

And on Friday, Works and Engineering Minister Alex Scott apologised to any of the workers who were inconvenienced and said the problem had been due to administrative delays.

He said Pro-Active submitted bills for the project more or less every week, and the Ministry always had to check that the work had been carried out properly before it paid out.

"We did get later than normal this week," said Mr. Scott. "We apologise to anyone who was inconvenienced."

However, he said he spoke to Mr. Ebbin on Saturday morning and was told that Pro-Active's cash was in the wrong bank account and so was not accessible to workers trying to cash their cheques.

Mr Scott added: "The Ministry put the funds where we normally put it, however, it had to be transferred to the payroll account for the workers, and to the sub-contractors account," he added.

"Because the money was paid out late on Friday, it never had a chance to be transferred to the other accounts.

"I'm most concerned about folks being inconvenienced, and I want them to have their funds at the earliest opportunity.

"The cheques will be good by Monday. If the workers don't get them on Monday morning, I want to know about it."

However, Mr. Scott said he hoped the Ministry would soon be implementing new protocols to prevent the problem arising again. And, while refusing to give information, he said the new initiatives would probably mean that Pro-Active would submit bills less frequently, as opposed to every week, meaning the general contractor would not have to wait for cash from Government every seven or so days.

But Mr. Scott said he planned to hold a press conference soon to update the public about the progress of the school site, on Berkeley Road, and what steps were being taken to speed up progress and make construction run more smoothly.

The new school is supposed to be open in September this year, however, reports have suggested that it will not be ready until at least the spring of next year.

However, Mr. Scott said he hoped some students would be able to utilise the site from the start of the September term.