Works and Engineering Minister Alex Scott has come under fire after announcing that $250,000 of tax payers' money has been put aside to fund a cash incentive scheme to get Bermudians working on the new Berkeley Institute.

Outspoken Government MP and union leader Derrick Burgess, who has previously slammed the cash for Bermudians scheme, said he was shocked that so much Government money had been earmarked.

And yesterday he said the money would have been better spent if it had been properly invested in some official training programme.

The Royal Gazette revealed in March that Mr. Scott was aiming to pay cash bonuses to the contractor and sub-contractors of the new $70 million school in return for every Bermudian hired.

He said his aim was to get the companies to entice locals to work on the site and to get them to provide training.

But it caused an outcry across the Island, and led three Progressive Labour Party MPs to take a stand against their own Cabinet over the pilot scheme.

Mr. Burgess, president of the Bermuda Industrial Union, said Government should not be paying a cash benefit to the contractors.

He claimed Government was "begging'' employers to hire Bermudians and described the scheme as "sick''.

And yesterday, he said he had not been given any additional information since then to help him change his mind, and said he was even more outraged to hear how much cash had been set aside.

He said: "I'm very shocked to hear that $250,000 has been earmarked as an incentive.

"A quarter of a million dollars -- that's an awful lot of money. Bermudians are entitled to a job in their own country. We should not need to spend money like this.

"This cash would have been put to better use if it had been used to provide or help fund a proper training programme.

"My feelings on the issue are the same. Nobody has tried to talk to us to change how I feel.'' Mr. Scott told the members of the Rotary Club of Hamilton yesterday that he believed, despite initial criticism, cynics over the scheme had finally began to change their minds.

BIU boss slams cash scheme to hire Bermudian labour He said it had not yet been decided which one of the two favoured contractors would be awarded the job, but he said both had put in writing that they would spend the incentive money on training.

A decision is expected within the next week.

He said the budget put aside was $250,000, which was 0.35 percent of the total cost of the project.

And he said it would be paid at regular intervals to the general contractors and any sub-contractors, depending on how many Bermudians they each employed.

He said: "The incentive programme aims to address the marketplace forces of supply and demand. It encourages and rewards the employer who hires a Bermudian or adds to the local skill pool by training tradesmen.

"It creates a mutually beneficial partnership between the developer and the contractor, which addresses the problematic, divisive issue of immigration contracts for skills in short supply.

"A very small percentage of a construction budget would go a long way in increasing the pool of skilled Bermudians in an industry that is currently in danger of being taken over by local companies dominated by a foreign partner.'' Mr. Scott admitted the incentive money was being funded by the tax payer, but said it was included in the overall project budget.

And he claimed locals would reap the benefit, as the cash would be going to Bermudians, and would therefore stay on the Island, as opposed to going to foreign workers.

However, when questioned by The Royal Gazette last night, Mr. Scott said although the companies had put in writing that they would use the money to provide training, he admitted that, as yet, there were no checks in place to ensure they did just that.

And equally, he said there was no way, at this stage, of ensuring that the people hired would continue to be trained and employed after the Berkeley project was complete.

He said: "They (the bidding firms) said they would put the money back into training. They committed themselves to it in writing.

"People who say companies should be providing training and employment to Bermuda anyway are naive. In the real world, of course they should be, but the companies would just say that they don't have the resources. Now they are doing it.

"This is a pilot scheme and it may require tweaking here and there. But we will be monitoring what is happening and we will looking at what training is being provided.

"One of the companies said in writing that it would be training site managers and there are special skills that will be required for that job.

"It may be that college courses are required at Bermuda College, or it may be that we have some of our folks going overseas for extra work experience, which the companies could assist in funding.

"There are many ways training could be provided.'' And he said Government was exploring ways to work with the National Training Board to see how the contracting firms could ensure proper training was given.

Mr. Scott said Government was committed to ensuring Bermudians were given priority when it came to jobs.

He said when both CedarBridge Academy and the Tynes Bay waste facility were built, locals alleged they could not get jobs on the sites because they had gone to expats.

However, the contractors claimed that insufficient locals were trained to do the jobs.

This scheme, he said, would solve that problem.

And he said in providing additional jobs and skills for Bermudians in the construction industry, he hoped to entice young schoolchildren into the industry, as well as reduce the rate of recidivism in the Island's prisons.

He added: "Some young people see construction as the low-skilled jobs, but what about engineering, architecture and accounting - these are what I call exotic skills in the construction industry.

"Opportunities in these fields may be created.'' Opposition Works and Engineering Minister C. V. (Jim) Woolridge was not available for comment last night.