Business leaders last night warned Government must tread carefully with the Workforce Equity Bill or risk losing commerce to the Island's competitors.

Gerald Simons, CEO for the Argus Group, told a public discussion that although the Bill has been based on that in other nations such as Canada, legislators must take the unique nature of business on Bermuda into account.

He said this not only included the international insurance sector but "a large number of family businesses".

More than 100 people packed the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute lecture hall to hear a panel of experts discuss the legal aspects and social implications of the Workforce Equity Bill. The event was hosted by the Human Rights Commission.

Garry Madeiros, CEO of Belco Holdings Ltd., presented his views on the Draft Act from the perspective of "an employer".

Mr. Madeiros said that while he "felt comfortable with the intent to remove barriers and provide opportunity", he found that some areas of the Bill "can be considered Draconian".

The Belco boss added that the Act would be "impossible to enforce" in some sectors of industry, in terms of ensuring group representation of black Bermudians.

"The occupational areas which stick out for me are the professional, technical and related areas," he said. "This is where we have accountants, lawyers and so on.

"Areas where you will never get a 52 percent workforce. We have 9,800 work permits on this Island as we don't have the Bermudians, black or white, to fill those positions."

Mr. Madeiros pointed to his own company as an example, saying there were 336 Belco employees covering 356 positions, 20 of which were unfilled.

"We can't find Bermudians and have a very difficult time finding non-Bermudians to fill these positions, from engineers to IT," he said.

Although Belco had taken on some Bermudians for specific technical positions, Mr. Madeiros said some people had failed to complete the training course and he called for a better quality of education in Bermuda's public schools.

"The reality is alarming," he said. "We do not have the technical people to take over."

Mr. Madeiros added: "I know that there are many companies where the voluntary approach is working well. Would it not be more appropriate to look at this and provide legislation to make it more manageable? Why create something completely new?"

Argus Group CEO Mr. Simons said he believed Government needed to differentiate between the various business cultures on the Island.

Speaking as a representative of the insurance industry, he said: "We should recognise that an international company represents a horse of a different colour.

"In insurance, the people who staff these companies are in the main drawn from the international insurance job market, and this island has 125 or so actuaries, of which Bermuda has produced ten at the most.

"But we should not worry about the fact that these international companies have mainly white males because in these countries such as Canada that's the reality of life.

"Should Bermudians aspire to any of these positions? Of course they should. But we should be mindful of the difference between local and international companies."

He added: "There's a large number of family businesses we also need to be mindful of."

But he asked: "Is this legislation the best way to achieve a laudable goal? I can understand what the Government is doing but I think we need to look carefully at whether this is the best way, and I can't answer that question with any certainty.

"We should be aware that with any legislation there is a cost. If we see changes that add to concern, then our principal competitors, Cayman, Jersey and Ireland, will use every bit of ammunition they can find for our disadvantage."

Mr. Simons called for more dialogue between employers and the Government over the proposed Act. "We hope employers will tell the Government about what is really going on," he said.

Dr. Myra Virgil, Acting Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Community and Cultural Affairs, said Government would welcome any feedback.

She told the forum: "This is a consultation Draft and one of the key features and intentions is to have discussion. We need an analysis of what is feasible.

"We want to be looking at what is reasonable with the labour pool we have."