yesterday.

Mr. David Lines said criticism by Mr. Terry Lister in a speech to the Hamilton Lions Club last week was either ill-informed or politically motivated.

Mr. Lister is the Progressive Labour Party's campaign co-chairman. Mr. Lines is a United Bermuda Party candidate in Pembroke East Central.

In his speech, Mr. Lister said the Employment Task Force was doomed to fail because its members did not represent the broad community.

Since membership was weighted in favour of Chamber of Commerce members at the expense of "the man on the street,'' the task force was focusing on development and expansion of international business, Mr. Lister said.

That approach would provide high-paying jobs for a few, but not help the masses, he said.

Mr. Lines said Mr. Lister's charges were untrue.

"Members of the task force have been taken from all areas of the employment sector in Bermuda, including unions, employers, Government, the Chamber of Commerce, BIBA (the Bermuda International Business Association), Bermuda College, the Department of Education, etcetera,'' Mr. Lines said.

Top Bermuda Industrial Union officials Mr. Ottiwell Simmons MP and Mr. Derrick Burgess were on the task force, and Mr. Simmons was on the steering committee, he said. Mr. Eugene Blakeney MP, head of the Bermuda Public Services Association, was also a member.

"Surely, these representatives of Bermuda's largest unions are able to speak for their membership,'' Mr. Lines said.

And international business benefited the many, not the few, he said. "There are thousands of Bermudians working in offices as secretaries, bookkeepers, accountants, managers and administrators, bankers and insurance underwriters or brokers, lawyers and legal assistants,'' he said.

"In addition, the restaurants, taxis, landlords, cleaners, service personnel and equipment suppliers are all beneficiaries.

"In short, without international business, Bermuda would not be able to afford any new opportunities.'' Despite that, international business formed only one part of the task force's work, Mr. Lines said. Training and retraining were key to the report, now being printed for presentation to the Premier. "The facilities within the Island (for training) exist, but the direction may have to be changed,'' he said.

Mr. Lister could not be reached for comment yesterday. PHOTO Mr. David Lines.

Mr. David Lines