Retiring Chamber of Commerce president Charles Gosling has raised concerns over the excessive secrecy of the Employment Tribunal.

He said it was worrying that the panel, which has the ability to establish policy and precedents, should choose to do so behind closed doors.

He told the Chamber?s AGM yesterday: ?One can understand the need to protect an employee from a vengeful employer.

?The equally-weighed rights of the accused to an open hearing, where evidence is taken under oath and is open to cross examination, where justice is heard and seen to being done is of matched importance.?

However, he said the Employment Act 2000 already allows for both the accuser and accused to be protected from the public gaze until guilt or innocence has been established.

?Proposed legislation, certainly one that could bear considerable costs to many sectors of our economy ? employer and consumer alike ? has to be based on measurables documented by such a tribunal and not by anecdote,? said Mr. Gosling who said the tribunal had not yet lived up to its potential.

He also said there were unrealistic expectations on business to support public/private initiatives.

?All too often it is a few civic, or in some cases cynically, minded who can be called upon to support these projects,? he said, but those who do chip in still have to remain competitive.

The Buy Bermuda Campaign is running into problems, with funding falling short last year despite heavy backing from the Bank of Butterfield and the Chamber, said Mr. Gosling.

?It will be a great challenge for us even to contemplate a fifth year.?

Some in the business world had a myopic view of the running of Government, Mr. Gosling added.

?All to often with scurrilous gossip being accepted over the blandest of truth.

?With the Premier?s Sustainable Development Round Table in place, the relationship not only between the private and the public sector has to be explored but active associations created ? be it secondment from one sector to the other ? with the silo cultures destroyed.?

He said a task force was already meeting with Government to find a middle ground over overtime amendments to the Employment Act 2000.

Attempts by Government to enforce premium compensation for working past 40 hours a week were booted out by the Senate earlier this year.

Mr. Gosling said: ?There has to be the ability for employees, especially when the request is on their part, to volunteer to work additional hours, for this to be met without the employer having to pay a surcharge.

?Similarly there also has to be protection for the employee from those employers who exploit those who do not feel as they are empowered to stand up for their own rights.

?In the case of the latter, we believe the existing legislation provides sufficient protection and that our concerns rest with the lack of enforcement against any employer exploiting its employees under these circumstances.?

While he called on business to work with Government he said it was wrong for the Chamber to turn its back on the Opposition.

The issue came up when the United Bermuda Party wanted to present their Economic Empowerment bill to the Chamber.

?It was felt that the concepts raised and the methodology of the bill were significant enough for our members to hear.

?Unfortunately some members saw this being an outwardly political move on our part and one to be cautioned about,? he said.

But he cautioned the Chamber of falling into the trap it has done historically ? of shunning the Opposition and becoming, by default, a defender of the status quo.

?Possibly the history of the Chamber with prior Governments is too recent for us to have hosted this event.

?I can accept that, but I would like to leave the Chamber having tried to enable a free flow of ideas from either side without bias, with the intent of enhancing our lobbying effectiveness rather than having the integrity of the Chamber being called into question.?

Mr. Gosling welcomed the removal of restrictions on public holiday openings after years of debate but said businesses were being hit by an unnecessary fees for that privilege, particularly as there was accompanying legislation protecting workers who were asked to do holiday shifts. He said it could provide another hurdle for an industry struggling to reinvent itself.

He also welcomed the new tiered payroll taxes for small and medium sized businesses which came after years of Chamber lobbying but he urged both Government and business to look again at Bermuda?s 100-year-old tariff structure which has been blamed for the demise of Trimingham?s.