So much for a shared vision.

Monday?s Labour Day celebrations saw Government Ministers call on unionised workers to remember that, in theory at least, they are all on the same side.

Bermuda Industrial Union president and Government backbencher Derrick Burgess struck a conciliatory note too, saying he was still happy to be a member of the Progressive Labour Party in spite of the pain of the last two weeks over the cancellation of the Pro-Active Management Systems contract at the new Berkeley site.

The peace lasted less than 24 hours. Yesterday at 9 a.m. unionised bus drivers and ferry operators, among others, suspended service to hold a meeting at the BIU to decide whether to march on the Cabinet Office.

Pleas by Home Affairs Minister Randy Horton and former US presidential candidate Al Sharpton to keep this ?family dispute? off the front lawn fell on deaf ears because the workers did indeed march.

Relations between the BIU and the PLP Government are now at their lowest ebb in recent memory ? even worse than when former Premier Jennifer Smith was lectured by union members on the steps of the House of Assembly two years ago.

But the biggest losers in this dispute are the employees of Pro-Active, who are out of work through no fault of their own.

While Pro-Active owner Arthur Ebbin may have reason to feel aggrieved, it is possible that he will come out of this sorry episode in better shape than his employees. Now off the job and freed from the burden of actually completing it, he may actually end up with money in his pocket if an arbitrator rules in favour of Pro-Active.

And, because Government fired Pro-Active weeks before its latest deadline to complete the project, the BIU is no longer liable to pay over any part of the controversial performance bond it allegedly wrote through an insurance subsidiary. So the union is off the hook, at least financially.

But the workers end up with nothing. They may get some redundancy payments, and they are fortunate that the construction industry is red-hot, so finding a new job ought not to be difficult. But they are now out of work.

Some marchers made this point yesterday, saying they were not protesting in favour of Pro-Active, but in sympathy with the unemployed workers. It is hard not to sympathise with that, although few of the hundreds of bus and ferry passengers left stranded yesterday will be shedding any tears.

The reality is that labour relations have not improved under a ?labour? government and it would be better for the community if the Government dropped the pretence that they have.

Government must govern in the best interests of the whole community, and not for any special interest group.

Works Minister Ashfield DeVent at least got that right when he stated that it was his responsibility to get the senior secondary school finished for the school children who need it.

Regardless of whether Mr. DeVent?s handling of the Pro-Active situation was correct, he was right in principle. Now the Government needs to send the same message to labour; the PLP and the BIU may share the same ancestry, but they carry out different roles. And they should judge each other accordingly.