Union leader Derrick Burgess has said Government would be right to take a more expensive bid for the building of the new Berkeley Institute -- if it meant more Bermudians were involved in the project.

The Government backbencher and leader of the Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU) spoke out after disgruntled workers from BermudaTech protested through the streets on Friday over the handling of the tenders.

They are upset that despite BermudaTech putting in the lowest bid by $5 million, and having experience of developing schools on the Island, Pro-Active Management Systems was believed to be the favoured choice.

They presented their written concerns to Works and Engineering Minister Alex Scott, and told him their firm was made up of 98 percent Bermudians.

But Mr. Burgess said no company on the Island had the right to say they should be awarded a contract, purely because they have had others.

And he said people had to take into consideration which sub-contracting firms each of the bidders would use.

The one that chose sub-contractors with the most Bermudians employed, should be the natural choice, he said.

Mr. Burgess said: "We have to look at the make-up of the contractors and take into account who the sub-contractors are.

"I don't know who they are, but the minister (Mr. Scott) will.

"Just because a bid is less than another does not mean that it will benefit Bermuda more.

"Yes, $5 million is a lot of money, but this Government has promised that it will incorporate a training programme for Bermudians into it.'' On Friday, both Mr. Scott and Mr. Burgess told the protesting workers that they ought to join the BIU because then their concerns could be represented by an official body and group of workers.

And Mr. Burgess said they should have been marching instead for greater union benefits, such as holiday and sick pay.

And he said he believed Government should only grant contracts to unionised firms.

He added: "A unionised firm should get the contract.'' However, he was unable to say whether or not Pro-Active was unionised.

A building worker, who did not wish to be named but said he did not belong to Pro-Active, said he felt the favoured firm and Government was being given unwarranted criticism.

Burgess speaks out on Berkeley And he said when CedarBridge Academy was built, a lot of small local firms were involved in the work under the umbrella developer Somers Construction.

He added: "What is the difference now? If Pro-Active gets the contract it could lead to so many more Bermudians working on Berkeley, instead of people coming from overseas.

"We need to keep the money on the Island and we need to give the work to Bermudians. People are not putting across the whole side - they are being biased here.

"It is not just about $5 million - it is about much more than that.

"It does not matter how long a company has been going for, you have to look at the other contractors involved.

"The work has to be spread around. Why should BermudaTech get it just because it has others? "You have to remember that BermudaTech started somewhere not so long ago, and it worked on CedarBridge. We have to give other companies a chance.''