announcement that efforts were underway to train Bermudians for landscaping and office cleaning jobs -- traditionally held by foreign workers.

And he accused the Immigration Department of failing to control Portuguese contract workers.

"You don't need to train someone to clean a bathroom or cut the lawn,'' said the groundskeeper, who did not want to be named for fear of losing his job.

"Bermudians are ready to take over those jobs now.'' The problem was with the Immigration Department, he claimed.

It was issuing work permits to Portuguese nationals and renewing them despite the fact there were willing and able Bermudian applicants for the jobs.

He claimed Portuguese workers given permits for gardening or dish washing jobs were holding down other jobs "under the table'' in their spare time. As much as 70 percent of the private landscaping business in Bermuda was being done illegally, he claimed.

"Do you know how much money they send overseas -- millions!,'' the groundskeeper said. "For every dollar they earn, 70 cents goes out of the Island. They leave Bermuda and go back to the Azores and buy mansions.'' He said most of the Portuguese who came to Bermuda for cleaning or landscaping jobs had never worked in these fields before.

"They don't come here as professional landscapers, lawn cutters or hedge trimmers. But if they are getting a paid air ticket, housing and three times what they could possibly make in the Azores they'll be the best damn hedge trimmers in the world.'' He noted he had started out in the office cleaning business and had trained Portuguese contract workers. He then got a job at a golf course and had to train more Portuguese nationals in that field.

"I've nothing against the Portuguese, but it's discrimination against Bermudians,'' he said. "Employers also don't want to hire Bermudians because if they don't work out they can't just send them back.'' Mr. Pearman announced on Monday there would be a major overhaul of his Ministry to better help Bermudians train for and find jobs.

Jobs filled mostly by non-Bermudians, such as landscaping and office cleaning, would be identified and efforts made to train Bermudians to take over, Mr.

Pearman stated.