The Construction Association and the Department of Labour and Training this week put out an advertisement calling on unemployed construction workers to get in touch.

The move comes in the wake of Government?s decision to ban work permits until all local workers previously employed on the site of the new senior secondary school are back at work.

Dozens of workers were thrown out of work by Government?s decision to terminate Pro-Active Management Systems? contract to build the school.

And a handful of former Pro-Active workers have been employed at the site to do clean up and safety related work.

?The Construction Association of Bermuda and the Department of Labour and Training would like to hear from you to discuss future employment opportunities,? the ad says, adding that interested persons have until close of business tomorrow to respond.

Government?s Press office released a statement last week saying that ten former Pro-Active workers had been engaged to do the work.

And the statement sought to correct reports that Somers Construction had been given a $1-million contract for the work. That figure, the statement said, was ?totally inaccurate? and Somers is not the contractor involved.

The statement did not identify the contractor.

?These individuals are hourly employed. The clean-up is expected to take a further two weeks and the cost will be in the area of $40,000 to $50,000,? the statement reported.

?This work is required in advance of contract works resuming on site under the construction manager.?

Relations between the Bermuda Industrial Union and Government have been tense since Government terminated Pro-Active?s contract to build the school last month.

But the union backed down at the last minute from a threat to take legal action to prevent Government going ahead with the project before resolving several outstanding issues stemming from the termination.

The union was particularly concerned with the fact that dozens of workers had been thrown out of work without notice and had received no severance pay.

Government paid the workers for the last week of the contract and promised they would be hired back on to the site when work resumed.

But it has refused to make good on Pro-Active?s severance pay liabilities. Pro-Active claims it is owed substantial sums of money from Government.

?Any time people are employed that were unemployed I?m happy,? was all BIU president Derrick Burgess would say.

?I?m an eternal optimist. I would think so, but I cannot say,? he said when asked whether the workers would get severance pay from Government.

And Mr. Burgess indicated that arbitration, rather than litigation, would be the preferable course if the issues cannot be resolved.

Both Government and Pro-Active have hired specialist teams to assess the status of the site. Government?s assessors finished their on-site inspection almost two weeks ago and is expected to report to Government this week, while Pro-Active started its inspection last week and are expected to take another five or six weeks to complete the work.

Another bone of contention between the union and Government is the role of Somers Construction, a non-unionised firm.

Government has said that it, not Somers, will be the general contractor to complete the project, but it is going ahead with plans for the company to be the ?construction manager?.