Government plans for a ?workforce empowerment? programme aimed at forcing businesses to improve opportunities for black Bermudians have been criticised by the Bermuda International Business Association, The Royal Gazette has learned.

But Community Affairs and Sport Minister Dale Butler said yesterday that BIBA?s response to a consultative paper circulated by the Commission for Unity and Racial Equality made unjustified assumptions and he was urgently seeking a meeting with the organisation?s chairman, Lloyd Wiggan.

Government announced in the Throne Speech in November that it planned to amend CURE?s legislation to require large companies to review their policies to ensure that racial barriers to opportunity are removed.

Since then, CURE has been consulting stakeholders in the business community on the amendments and obtained a copy of BIBA?s response, although BIBA has refused to comment further on it.

In the letter sent on March 24 to CURE executive Myra Virgil, BIBA said it was concerned the proposal would set up a system of preferential treatment or affirmative action and could lead to a quota system to ensure blacks are promoted to a certain number of positions.

BIBA?s letter, signed by Mr. Wiggan and BIBA chief executive Deborah Middleton, said it feared the policy could further dissuade companies setting up in Bermuda and engender resentment and perpetuate the divide between the races.

BIBA said: ?Companies should not be blamed for what is, in many cases, a problem with the education system and teenagers leaving high school unprepared and under-educated to succeed in the workforce.?

But Mr. Butler denied the proposal was a quota system.

Instead, the legislation would ensure companies were taking measures to show they have undertaken training programmes and are promoting Bermudians, although he admitted the legislation would contain penalties who fail to do so.

The Minister said blacks are not rising into the upper levels of management and this was borne out by statistics contained in the annual review of the workforce survey which has been carried out since 2001.

He added: ?I am gravely concerned about the document which we received from BIBA. We have requested a meeting with the chairman, Mr. Lloyd Wiggan, to discuss the tenor and the presumption contained in the letter.?

Mr. Butler said CURE issued the consultative document in February and March to BIBA, the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce, Bermuda Employers? Council, Bermuda Hotel Association and the Association of Bermuda International Companies (ABIC).

He refused to provide The Royal Gazette with a copy of the document, as did BIBA.

In its response, BIBA said: ?Our members have expressed concern over: the fostering of discrimination by continuing to focus on one group of Bermudians over another; ?tokenism? and the pressure on employees to promote those Bermudians designated as disadvantaged for the sake of policy and not on the basis of merit.?

It added: ?What are the possible effects on white employees of having a public written policy which lists certain preferential measures given to black Bermudians? Will this not engender resentment and perpetuate the divide between the races? ?Has the Commission considered a possibly better alternative which would be to give preferential treatment to all Bermudians regardless of race?? BIBA asked, adding: ?Indeed, we see that the racial split in management positions is about equal. What is the proposed proportion of black to white??

BIBA noted that unqualified Bermudians had to start in entry level positions and ?through on the job training, mentoring as well as engaging in self-development programmes, we can anticipate that they will advance and grow within the company?.

But Mr. Butler hit back: ?They (BIBA) are implying that our graduates from Harvard, Yale and Princeton, Oxford, Cambridge, University of Toronto, do have not have the ability to run these companies at this level.

?Rather than engage in a public battle on each point we would like to meet with them privately because the bottom line is going to be a change not only in their attitude but in the way business takes place.

?The Government is saying if you have a hundred employees, 50 of them are black, you have ten senior positions and not one of them is black. Tell us why you have no Bermudians in your top ten positions.?

Asked what will happen to those companies that fail to show they have taken measures to train or promote Bermudians, Mr. Butler said: ?There will be penalties but this will be enshrined in the law. ?We are not demanding of anyone that they promote people who are inadequately trained. We see little evidence of Bermudian graduates from good universities rising up the ladder.?

He added: ?The purpose of the consultation process was to introduce a legislative proposal designed to ensure better compliance with equality of opportunity initiatives and ensure employers have adopted an equality of opportunity policy.?

Ms Middleton refused to comment further on BIBA?s letter, saying it was private correspondence and that BIBA intended to continue discussions with Government in private.