Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU) has hit back at claims that Bermuda has only got itself to blame for building a "culture of entitlement".

It follows comments made by president of the Chamber of Commerce, Phil Barnett, who said last week that, as Bermuda has got easier to live in Bermudians have started to "take it easy" and that the Island is facing an uphill battle to bring back the values that drove the country to successes and which are now in danger of slipping away.

He went on to point out that the "dumbing down" of eduction and the lack of family cohesion and parental responsibilities to properly raise their children as part of the reason behind Bermuda's social ills.

But chief union organiser George Scott and union organiser Louis Somner both rebutted Mr. Barnett's comments, saying that they and many others interpreted them as being specifically directed at black Bermudians and the only culture of entitlement was from those bringing in workers from outside the country to run their business and thus denying black Bermudians the chance to do those jobs.

"Bermuda certainly has not been afforded the opportunity to take it easy," said Mr. Somner.

"I would say, more than 50 percent of families usually have two or three members in their household doing three or four jobs just to pay the mortgage and pay the bills and keep it current.

"You have to look at getting employed these days — it is a battle to be a black Bermudian, especially to go in seeking employment and to get a fair chance because on the outside resources and labour (coming in) from abroad."

Mr. Scott agreed that it was a "culture of entitlement" for businesspeople in Bermuda because it is easy for them to source labour from overseas.

"My point is that they can't come here illegally, they come here legally, and that is when the resources of the country (the Bermudian workforce) are not put first," he said.

"When you look at Mr. Barnett's enterprises, when he took over that group of restaurants, the excuse was that they had got to renovate, and when they opened up there were very few Bermudians (working there).

"I would estimate that it is (now) run by 99 percent non-Bermudians, and I think that is a culture of entitlement."

Mr. Scott argued that, in economic terms, guest workers are getting preference by employers at the expense of black Bermudians, who are not getting trained up to take over their roles and are always first in line to be made redundant.

And he called for the better provision of training to improve black Bermudian job prospects in the future.

"There is permanence for everybody else, but not the black person," he said.

"What are we doing with a country that has 10,000-plus work permits?

"Mr. Barnett should be embracing this country and saying how he can help — what is he doing to put something together to solve the problem?

"He should be sharing his experience and he should be saying to young people, 'Here is how I did it and these are the sacrifices I have made because you have to work hard to get somewhere in life'."