Bermuda has become a better place for workers in the last decade said Derrick Burgess who steps down as leader of the Bermuda Industrial Union leader tomorrow.

But he called for more action on housing after noting house prices had doubled or even trebled in that time.

Government needed to step in to provide low income housing because the private sector never would.

He said the new Housing Minister was getting to grips with this but it had taken a long time.

?It is frustrating not only to me but to all of us that we have not built houses or have not built them fast enough because we are all subject to the costs. That?s been frustrating to everybody.?

Reaching out to Bermuda?s growing underclass was difficult for the BIU said Mr. Burgess. ?A lot of people are unreachable because a lot of them are afraid.?

He said guest workers were particularly vulnerable because they feared their employer wouldn?t renew their work permit if they joined a trade union.

?A lot of these workers are exploited ? working for five dollars an hour and working very, very long hours.?

Some had to share their gratuities with management said Mr. Burgess.

Asked about the key moments during his ten-year reign Mr. Burgess cited the ruling by London?s Privy Council in London which held that Stevedoring Services was wrong to keep an injunction hanging over the heads of union officers which could have resulted in them being jailed.

He said relations with the hotel employers and union had improved during his tenure while he said Government had improved things by bringing in mandatory company pensions.

Asked about problems facing the country Mr. Burgess cited drugs and the declining birth rates as the proportion of retirees in the country grew.

?People say we are bringing in all these guest workers but they are not coming in unnecessarily. They are coming because they are needed.

?You cannot tell a Bermudian who wants to go into business who puts an advert for workers and he can?t get them that ?you can?t go into business ? you cannot bring in guest workers?. That?s not democracy, that?s not free enterprise.

?The thing is I would say we?ve got at least 300 people out there who are not working because they don?t want to work.?

That meant more imported people who needed a place to stay which added to the housing problem, said Mr. Burgess. But he said rising numbers of seniors was a worldwide problem he did not have the answers to.

Mr. Burgess said a technical school was needed urgently to get Bermudians back into the skilled trades.

Asked about his own career Mr. Burgess said he had no job offers yet.

But after a decade of dealing with labour strife he said he is looking forward to a summer watching sport and relaxing.

?I haven?t decided what I am going to do ? or even if I am going to do anything. That?s something down the road.?