Britons as Bermuda's top cops was "unpopular'' and suggested to the House of Assembly on Friday that more foreigners may have to be brought in to expand the Island's economy.

"We knew that it was not a popular decision,'' the Premier said of the appointment of Mr. Colin Coxall and Mr. Michael Mylod as Police Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner respectively.

"But we (in the United Bermuda Party) didn't say that every decision during this period of the House would be a popular one.'' Explaining that the two Englishmen had been recruited to ensure the future integrity of the Force, Sir John addressed the issue during a House "take note'' motion on last year's Report of the Premier's Task Force on Employment.

The task force was established by the Premier in 1992 and chaired by businessman Mr. Donald Lines.

It involved the input of some 600 participants.

In debating the report, the Premier also said that more foreign workers may eventually have to be hired in other fields to meet the report's objective of helping Bermudians respond to "a period of dynamic and dramatic change in the workforce.'' He added that a particular area of concern was the tourism industry, one of the twin pillars of the Bermudian economy.

"The industry is not a healthy one,'' the Premier said. "It is dying, and that should tell us something. It should tell us that we should take stock of ourselves and not blame others. Perhaps we should look at how we train people, because we can't keep saying to the hotel owners: `It's all your fault.'' Added the Premier: "I think that Bermuda is in a geographically ideal position to enter the 21st century, when I think that tourists will be looking less for sun and more for cultural tourism. But we can only take advantage of that opportunity if we make both the capital investment and the human resource investment. People, investors will only follow success.'' The Finance Minister, the Hon. David Saul , echoed the Premier's sentiments, saying earlier in the day that most of the foreign workers that came to Bermuda added considerably more to the Country than they took away.

"In the realm of international business, the non-Bermudian coming to the Island provides employment for Bermudians,'' Dr. Saul said. "The international companies that come to Bermuda generate two jobs for Bermudians on average. If you laid off every senior foreigner in those companies, you could basically say you are taking away two jobs from Bermudians.'' Citing previous comments by Shadow Labour and Home Affairs Minister Mr. Alex Scott , Dr. Saul also challenged the Opposition's characterisation of Government as insensitive to the unemployed.

"We are alarmed at the high rate of unemployment,'' the Finance Minister said. "We are alarmed at the number of people who are looking for jobs but are unable to find jobs. But do you think we are turning a blind eye to their plight? Because we are not. We're actually giving them support both financially and morally, and at the same time we're working with various groups to see that they get jobs.'' Dr. Saul cited Government-sponsored training courses at the Bermuda College as one example of the UBP's commitment to job creation.

Opposition MP Mr. Nelson Bascome , however, questioned the rosy picture that had been painted by Dr. Saul, who cited the case of a St. Lucian that went back home to become a top hotel manager as an indication of the Bermuda College's effectiveness.

"There are obviously two different worlds,'' Mr. Bascome said. "Dr. Saul just spoke about the St. Lucian student who was trained at the College and returned to a top job in his native country. But in Bermuda, we don't see the same thing happening in our own hospitality industry. That was the point being made earlier by Mr. Scott.'' The MP added: "There are two distinct Bermudas in that respect, and if we in this House haven't come to realise that we are on very different planes.'' Mr. Bascome said that the Immigration Department should be ensuring that a Bermudian trainee be placed alongside every foreigner that comes to the Island to work.

On the subject of protecting the indigenous workforce, Mr. Bascome received a clear vote of support from Mr. David Allen , the Shadow Minister of Tourism.

"I was dismayed,'' Mr. Allen said, "to hear the Premier say we may need to bring in more foreigners to expand our economy. Now we in the PLP are the first to admit that we may need to bring in foreigners for certain jobs on a stop-gap basis. But we would never make that the thrust of our policy. I am shocked that the Premier would take that position, especially in the days after two foreign Police Commissioners were hired. There is something wrong with this picture.'' Mr. Allen said more should be done to promote Bermudian entertainers since airport surveys since 1980 showed 70 percent of visitors want to see local talent.

"Bermudians are the number one selling point for tourism in Bermuda,'' he said.

"Bermudians have been given short shrift,'' he said. "I would like to see the Minister become more of an advocate of Bermudians so that entertainers have an increased presence.'' But he praised Elbow Beach Hotel and Princess hotels for hosting local entertainers and theatre shows.

He also recommended tourism awareness be taught in schools and that the hotel licensing act be amended so that hotels are required to have nightclubs and hire Bermudian entertainers.

And he advocated tax incentives for hoteliers that employ Bermudians. This, he said, could be financed by scaling work permit fees so that higher earners paid higher fees.

At present work permit fees are the same for a waiter earning $15,000 as a top paid lawyer who earns a $200,000 salary.

"There is a need for tax rebates to encourage the right impulses in the work place particularly in hotels.'' Mr. Allen added there should be a safety net for hotel workers laid off from their jobs and caught in a "double wammy'' with the decline of the construction industry.

Club Med, he said, should have been a major employment opportunity. It was up to Government to explore the avenue and take a more forceful approach.

In response to the Finance Minister's claim that unemployment is negligible, Mr. Allen said: "Tell the people of St. George's with their hotel closed up and hundreds of jobs laid off... tell those nightclub entertainers and musicians. They would tell a different story.'' "Bermuda is going to become more competitive but not at the expense of Bermudians.'' Otherwise, he warned the Bermudian worker would become an "endangered species''.

Transport Minister Hon. Maxwell Burgess called the scaling of work permits, "illogical'' because it would discourage foreign managers from working in Bermuda and creating jobs for Bermudians.

And it was reasonable, he said, that foreign investors should have representatives on the Island to protect their capital.

A "half way house'' should be reached between protecting capital investments and ensuring Bermudians had jobs.

Mr. Burgess admitted that although Bermudians had very little ownership in the two pillars of the economy, exempt company business and the hotel industry, they had worked out how to benefit from them.

Mr. Burgess attributed young peoples' lack of interest in the hotel industry to increasing job opportunities in business.

"International business and tourism is competed for around the world,'' he said. "The standards you have to have are international standards.

"It is no longer sufficiently good enough just to be a waiter or a lawyer.

You must now not just be the best waiter in Bermuda but the best in the world.

We must meet world standards to get our share in business.'' Bermudians were guaranteed to lose their jobs, he said, if they

6 Bermudians must strive to be the best -- Burgess From Page 5 dropped below world standards.

This, he said, also applied to the Police force.

And, he said, Bermuda's two percent unemployed would be "trumpeted'' in the rest of the world where rising unemployment was a fallout of the recession.

And to keep a healthy economy Bermuda had to grips with crime. "Bermuda is at a crossroads,'' Mr. Burgess said.

On education, he said the new school system should bring back into the mainstream young people who had fallen through the cracks.

And he advised young people to find out how to qualify themselves for jobs presently filled by foreigners.

Deputy Leader & Shadow Minister of Education Ms Jennifer Smith called for more co-operation between the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Immigration.

She said training programmes at Bermuda College did not benefit young people who were not qualified to enter.

And lack of qualifications, not lack of interest was the reason for the under-subscription of training courses.

A survey showed young people were interested in the hotel industry but had not been encouraged to enter it, she said.

Ms Smith added that training programmes in secondary schools worked well until Government closed them down.

"We have turned off young people,'' she said.

To turn them back on, she said, they needed to see "a visible success route to the top''.

"Too often we don't give them any responsibility and then complain about their irresponsibility...young people are not given the foundation to achieve qualifications.'' Training schemes, she said, would not help unemployment until Government addresses the problem of illiteracy. She recommended Government conduct a survey to compile statistics on the problem.

On young people who regularly attended secondary school but graduated without the qualifications to enter Bermuda College, Ms Smith said Government owed them a free education.

"We promised them an education to the highest level they were capable of.

Government should be held accountable.'' She said young people should be "trained and retrained'' so they are not "left out in the cold''.

And to aid employers, schools should be able to inform them of students' level of knowledge and degree of skill, she said.

St. George's South MP Mrs.

Grace Bell called for higher penalties for work permit infringements.

She said she knew of jobless people in their 20s who had not yet found their first job. In the 1980s in particular, she said, their plans were thwarted by illegal workers that "ruined their self-esteem.'' Referring to a Bermuda Sun editorial that echoed her own sentiments, Mrs. Bell said she was impatient with those "flying in the face of those who want to work.'' "People are getting frustrated,'' she added.

Also, she said, a stop should be put to anonymous advertising.

While Mrs. Bell said she was "not being anti-anybody'' she wanted illegal workers stamped out, adding that some house members were perpetrators.

And she praised Jeff Sousa who trained Bermudians, "good, bad and indifferent'' in construction.

She also praised immigration inspectors, Minister Hon.Irving Pearman and Protone Cleaning which employed students from St. George's Secondary School.

Pembroke East MP Mr. Ottiwell Simmons said the PLP supported Bermuda's hotel industry and international business 100 percent but that Bermuda was rich with too many poor opportunities.

And while Bermudians now held positions of political power they lacked economic clout.

He said the PLP welcomed foreigners into the country but not at the expense of Bermudians.

And he criticised advertisements "tailor made'' for individuals.

Government, he said, should set a target of three years to get Bermudians into hotel management positions.

Bermuda's newspapers were also not training sufficient journalists, he added.

The Royal Gazette in particular had a regular turnover of foreign reporters, he said.

"Let's get some Bermudian journalists on the local paper,'' he said. Each pillar of the economy is in the hands of non-Bermudians, with foreign-owned international businesses and 68 percent of the hotels owned by foreigners, he claimed.

"Those two industries control this country and control the UBP government...the Government is giving away too much of the economy into the hands of foreigners.'' On industrial relations, Mr. Simmons said the code of labour practices should include union representation for workers in the international business sector.

He added that Government had not tackled the issue of redundancy.

"Listen to people and stop setting rules to stop people from expressing themselves. It makes people very rebellious,'' he said.

Conflict in human and industrial relationships was inevitable, Mr. Simmons said and the only solution was to manage and minimise the conflicts.

"We won't get too far if we find we're pulling in different directions,'' he said.

And he also chastised Government for listening to Bermuda's big hotels while ignoring its citizens.

Hamilton West MP Mr. Wayne Furbert also broached the topic of unemployment, a "new phenomena'' which did not exist in Bermuda ten to 20 years ago.

A changing economy and new technology meant hoteliers no longer hire the same numbers as they did, he said.

He seconded Mrs. Bell's call to stamp out illegal workers. But by employing "certain foreigners'' in "certain positions'' he said they would create jobs for Bermudians.

Statistics, he said, show 2,322 Bermudians attended university in 1970 while in 1991 the figure rose to 8,434. Mr. Furbert said this meant people felt opportunities were available in Bermuda.

"If we had not provided opportunities we would not need to have this increase in university degrees,'' he said.

Bermudians were aware of opportunities in international business, he said.

For senior citizens, Mr. Furbert advocated courses by the Community Education Development Programme. In reponse to a question by Ms Jennifer Smith , on how illiterate senior citizens would benefit from the courses, he said a beginners' reading lesson was available.

But he said the decrease in Bermudians in the hospitality industry, demonstrated by a lack of interest amongst Bermudians in a waiter training course, concerned him.

But with the return of the Base lands he predicted new job opportunities for Bermudians. Certain new businesses such as car manufacturing would require foreign expertise, creating jobs for Bermudians.

Shadow Minister of Human Affairs & Information Ms Renee Webb praised recommendations put forward by the task force on employment but predicted they would be ignored.

Bermuda's economy was at a crossroads, she said, and might require a capital injection and foreign workers to be brought in.

And she backed Mr. Simmons by saying the PLP was not against foreign workers who trained Bermudians and contribute to the economy. But the party did take issue with foreigners who took jobs that Bermudians were qualified for.

Ms Webb decried the alleged double standard that was applied to Bermudian workers in relation to foreigners.

She claimed that the personal lives of indigenous workers were being used as a way of keeping them out of the job force.

"Very often the qualified Bermudian is stopped from getting a job because of something in his or her personal life,'' Ms Webb said. "But we hire non-Bermudians without investigating their private lives. We don't know what skeletons they might have in their closets. What is good for the non-Bermudian should be good for the Bermudian.'' On the subject of the new Economic Development and Human Resources Ministry that is proposed in the task force's report, Ms Webb hoped that it would be an instrument to "defend economic protectionism'' and "give Bermudians -- especially black Bermudians -- more opportunities.'' "We cannot help but wonder if this new Ministry will help to level the economic playing field for Bermudians,'' she said. ` Many are still crying in the wilderness in terms of the Immigration Department.'' Ms Webb added that most Bermudians "would have no problem with the hiring of foreign workers if we believed in our heart of hearts that we were getting our just due.'' In his role as overseer of the US Base transition, Management and Technology Minister the Hon. Grant Gibbons said he was trying to ensure that Bermudians did get their due by aiming for a totally indigenous workforce at the Airport by the turn of the century.

"Our goal is too have 100 percent Bermudianisation there by the end of the (Canadian manager's) five-year contract,'' he said. "And that will not be to the sacrifice of safety and security.'' At the same time, Dr. Gibbons apprised the House of the many kinds of jobs that would have to be filled at the Airport.

"When we do look for jobs on the Base, we will have to look across a broad range -- not just the high range. We will need to look for a mixture of white-collar, skilled, semi-skilled and trade workers.'' Dr. Gibbons added that Bermudians would have to realise that the days in which "you were guaranteed a job for life if you got the job done and did it well'' were gone.

"The job market is much meaner,'' he said, "and Bermudians must realise that they are competing with the rest of the world.'' In a highly impassioned speech, Shadow Environment Minister the Rev. Trevor Woolridge lambasted the Government for even bringing the task force's report forward, calling it an insult to Bermudians.

"I am embarrassed for the Government,'' he told the Assembly. "In what other country would a Government put Bermudians in the position they are in and then come here and pretend they are doing something to employ Bermudians. It is shameful. You don't see the Americans trying to Americanise their country. You don't see the Canadians or the British or the Portuguese doing it.'' Saying he understood the pain of unemployment, Rev. Woolridge added that the UBP had lost touch with the needs and aspirations of ordinary Bermudians.

"They don't want to move into Tucker's Town,'' he said. "They don't want a piece of property down by the water. They just want to pay their mortgages and see to the education of their children.'' Rev. Woolridge said that "the policies that are perpetrated by this Government steal the pride from our children.'' Human Affairs and Information Minister the Hon. Jerome Dill , meanwhile, questioned the extent of the unemployment problem, saying jobless figures had been exaggerated by the Opposition.

"Those individuals who report they are looking for work are not all unemployed,'' he maintained. "Some are looking for another job and others are looking for part-time work. Yes, we recognise the pain of the unemployed. But when you talk about a 1.9-percent unemployment rate, you need to keep it in perspective.

He added: "There is no society in the world in which you will find a population that is fully employed. The suggestion that unemployment is rampant in this country is simply untrue.'' In the final address of the session, Opposition MP Mrs. Lois Browne Evans derided the UBP for its display of concern for the Island's workers, claiming it came to issue of labour and industrial relations well after the PLP.

She also chastised the Government for casting negative aspersions on the PLP's track record on labour.

"No one can say that the Progressive Labour Party hasn't worked for the upward mobility of the people of this country,'' she said. "I will not tolerate any denigration of this party or its lofty aims. We don't take it lightly and we we're not jesting. We have a just cause.'' Mrs. Browne, who complained that the UBP continually failed to provide the Opposition with sufficient advance notice of its weekly agenda, also said that Government should have provided industrial relations legislation on the table and not just a "take note'' motion.

THE HON. MAXWELL BURGESS -- `Bermudians will lose their jobs if they drop below world standards'.