Opinions are mixed on whether a workers' protest that disrupted bus and ferry services was justified, according to a random street poll conducted by yesterday.

On Tuesday Bermuda Industrial Union members marched to the Cabinet building in a show of support for Pro-Active Management Systems workers who are now unemployed after the company was pulled off the beleaguered Berkeley School project.

"You have to support one another because you cannot stand alone," said "That's the whole principle of labour. Every Government tries to make it illegal but one cannot stand alone. That's why it's sometimes good to break a law to right injustices."

The Pro-Active contract was a "disaster" because the company could not get adequate cash flow support, Mr.Smith claimed.

"It's been a practice for years that if you have a Government contract you can get ten percent from the bank. This contractor only got two percent and it's been having financial problems from the start."

Mr. Smith said that Government should have given Pro-Active more support. "When you have a contractor that hasn't done anything of this scale, any little thing becomes significant. From the start money wasn't there and Government didn't see fit to give them what they needed."

Financial analyst said in his view the protest action was not justified. "For one thing it doesn't involve the people who ride the ferries and the buses especially when they are trying to get to work," he said.

That was a view shared by 66-year-old painter who said that the taxpayer had already lost a bundle on the Pro-Active contract.

"The taxpayer's paid enough already. I can understand them protesting for the workers but why does the taxpayer have to pay? Take it out of Pro-Active's money, don't take it out of the taxpayer. Don't take it out of us ? we've spent enough already. Government should call in the bond. See what the union says about that. They won't have anything to play with."

said the whole dispute could have been avoided if Government had "never hired a company that had no business doing the job".

But she agreed that the former Pro-Active workers had been "hard done by"., who works in security, said that the protest simply reflected the way unions operate.

"They shock the public, they shock everybody. I don't think the shock we got was warranted. Maybe there was a different way of doing things."

He said Pro-Active should not have expected to be two years behind and "not get slapped on the wrist" but the contractor should have been given a week's notice.

And Bermuda College student said taking a stand for one's beliefs was important.

"I always believe you should take a stand for what you believe in," she said.

"So if you feel strongly about it and that's what you have to do to get your point across, it's justifiable."