The Corporation of Hamilton has rejected claims it pressured employees to sign a petition to fight the Municipality Reform Act.

And while the Corporation will shut down for an hour today for a protest outside Sessions House, councillor Nicholas Swan said staff are not obliged to attend. According to comments posted on the Progressive Labour Party website on July 21, Corporation employees were ordered to sign the petition or "face job loss or economic difficulty".

"It was definitely a lie on someone's part to smear us," said Mr. Swan. "It was beyond my realm of reasoning. Our staff are fully removed from the political process.

"The City will shut for the protest between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m., but there is no requirement on their part to come."

An official statement from the Corporation said union representatives were present at the meeting they held with staff. Any staff participating in any petition or event do so under their own volition," the statement read. The potential effect of a major revenue loss was one of the items discussed and in specific with the union leadership to provide information to permit open dialogue on potential issues and resolutions."

Government has said that there would be no loss of services or staff caused by the proposed legislation. Yesterday Mr. Swan said the planned reform would force the Corporation to cut dozens of programmes including the Concerts in the Park series, Christmas lights, a proposed City Rangers programme and the expansion of CCTV cameras.

"It's not reasonable or rational to expect nothing to be cut," Mr. Swan said. "This is the physical reality. We will be in a $4 million deficit. There are a myriad of programmes we would have to cut. That's the shame of this. It's the people that are going to suffer."

Mr. Swan spoke out against the bill and encouraged Bermudians to join in today's protest at a press conference held yesterday at City Hall.

The Corporation protest is planned for today at noon. Parking in the City of Hamilton will be free between 11.30 a.m. and 2 p.m., to encourage participation.

Said Mr. Swan: "We would like to think it could make a difference. We hope this will help steel their resolve. "Bermudians have questions and they deserve answers. Why not have a public debate to discuss this issue? They did it for the gaming issue, so why aren't they doing it now? To the thousands of people who have signed our petition and the almost 24,000 visitors to our website — thank you, and please join us to save our City."

"Government and Cabinet are rushing a bill about the future of our city through Parliament this week to take over the City of Hamilton and the Town of St. George, a bill that has not seen the light of day, that has been kept secret and discussed behind closed doors with only a privileged few.

"A bill that, according to an independent poll, that 82 percent of Bermudians do not support.

"A bill crafted by $800,000 foreign consultants that would seize the city's assets not enact meaningful municipality reforms, reforms the Corporation proposed and has tried to work together with Government to enact, but to no avail."

One of the main arguments for the Municipalities Reform Act is to expand the number of people who can vote in Corporation elections. Critics say business owners are favoured over residents, at present.

"We suggested reforms in 2008 that would have added 1,000 people, who would all have been residents," said Mr. Swan.

"It would have the numbers solidly on the side of residents."

Government has said the legislation would not strip the Corporation of its assets. Mr. Swan said the bill would be the first step in a series of moves to dismantle and absorb the Corporation. "It's going to be a systematic destruction. I think they realised that rather than swallow us whole, they need to do it piece by piece."