A blunt warning that Bermudian jobs could be lost as an unforeseen consequence of Government's six-year work term policy has been met with silence from Immigration Minister Derrick Burgess.

As reported in yesterday's Royal Gazette, high profile business leader David Ezekiel has warned that international companies are starting to outsource jobs overseas that were previously filled in Bermuda by ex-pats on work permits.

The next step will be for international companies to shift lower-level administration and processing jobs, traditionally done by Bermudians, to those outsourced locations because of economic dynamics, according Mr. Ezekiel, who is chairman of the Association of Bermuda International Companies.

"Once you allow that outsourcing train to leave the station it will be difficult to get back. The changes will start with the outsourcing of the work permit jobs, but once that pipeline is on place, the cashier jobs and processing jobs will go too," he warned, adding that failing to generate jobs for Bermudians was "not ideal" but there would be a balancing act for international companies to perform to maintain benefits for their clients.

Brad Kading, president of the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers, agrees that "anything deters companies from having important operational functions here" detracts from the economic benefit they bring to Bermuda.

A request on Wednesday for a comment from Immigration Minister Mr. Burgess was responded to yesterday by a department spokesman who said that, as Royal Gazette efforts over the past five months to arrange an interview with the Minister had been unsuccessful, he was "not hopeful" Mr. Burgess would speak on this latest topic.