Just one in five people have backed Labour and Immigration Minister Derrick Burgess’ claims that employees who speak out against company policies should be fired.

People were quizzed in a Royal Gazette opinion poll during the row over Dr. Catherine Wakely, who was forced to resign after publicly questioning the controversial closure of King Edward VII Memorial Hospital’s Medical Clinic.

Two weeks before our survey, Mr. Burgess said the English doctor’s departure was “common sense”, stating: “If anyone of you spoke out against your company’s policies you would expect to be dismissed.”

In the poll, 21.5 percent said employers should be able to fire employees who publicly disagree with company policies, 69.1 percent said they should not and 9.4 percent were not sure.

However, more than half backed the Minister’s statement that guest workers should stay out of local politics.

Our poll showed 34.2 percent thought non-Bermudians should get involved in politics, 57.4 percent said they should not and 8.4 percent were unsure.

Reacting to the results yesterday, Mr. Burgess stood by his comments — and predicted a poll of managers in Bermuda would show most backed him. “People can say what they want, but freedom of speech does have consequences,” he said.

“If I work for you and I make some unkind statement about you, I don’t think you would want to keep me employed.

“You don’t have to just say everything is perfect, but there are avenues to address it. It’s like a family — you discuss your problems in the house, not on the lawn in the street.

“To me, if you poll employers, what answers do you expect to get?”

On non-Bermudians discussing politics, he said: “I won’t go into another country in this world and be negative about their country, regardless of what’s happening there. I don’t think it’s the right thing to do.

“It’s based on common sense. If I came into your house and I criticise your house, I think you may ask me to leave. And you would be right.”

Asked whether he thought non-Bermudians should leave the Island if they don’t like the politics, he replied: “I have never said that. I work with many guest workers and always treat them with respect. I believe guest workers are just as good as Bermudian workers.”

Shadow Labour and Immigration Minister Trevor Moniz repeated his accusation that Mr. Burgess was seeking to curb free speech.

He said the Minister’s stance was “hypocritical” because in his former role as Bermuda Industrial Union leader he stood up for workers’ rights.

Mr. Moniz said: “People have human rights, as I have tried to explain to Mr. Burgess.

“Surely he wouldn’t agree all those union members should be fired when they disagreed with their employers. It’s extremely hypocritical of Derrick Burgess.”

Mr. Burgess replied: “Mr. Moniz has a problem understanding the English language. He wants an interpreter. I won’t dignify his response with a response.”

Dr. Wakely was one of three expat workers to make high-profile departures from their posts in the the past few months.

Late last December, Mr. Burgess’ department revoked the work permit of Canadian construction worker Curtis Macleod, citing disrespectful conduct to Government backbencher George Scott during a building site row.

At about the same time, Australian chef Anthony Reynolds resigned from Elbow Beach Hotel after allegedly making a joke about putting arsenic in Premier Ewart Brown’s food.

Dr. Wakely said last night: “I’m not surprised by the result. I have felt a warmth of support from so many Bermudians and wish to thank you all for that.

“It is absolutely vital that people within a civilised society should be able to voice an opinion without fear of repercussion. Opinions are always open for debate and people are not asking for their opinion to be necessarily accepted, only heard.”

The phone survey of 404 people was carried out by Research Innovations from March 15 to March 18. Those polled were a mixture of Bermudians and non-Bermudians, although 85 percent were registered voters, suggesting the vast majority were Bermudian.

A break-down of the figures shows the highest earners in society, and whites, were most likely to oppose Mr. Burgess’ comments.

Among people with a household income of more than $100,000, just 17.2 percent agreed said employees should not be allowed to speak out, compared with 26.3 percent of those earning less than $50,000.

Meanwhile, 74.0 percent of whites said employees who speak out should not be fired, compared with 67.9 percent of blacks.

The survey has a margin of error of 4.9 percent.

[bul]Are you an employer with a view on Mr. Burgess’ comments? Contact Tim Smith on 278-0153. See tomorrow’s Royal Gazette for results on Independence.

We disagree, Minister