Premier Ewart Brown has hit back over claims he was afraid to face a union confrontation during a historic march on Friday.

"I'm not a coward. I grew up in a protest era, I grew up marching. I was in that kind of politics for years, before I chose the jacket-and-tie politics," he said yesterday, having missed most of the protest due to other engagements.

However, in comments unlikely to build bridges with angry workers, Dr. Brown criticised them for striking too quickly over disputes, remarking: "I have never been comfortable with the short leave time between labour dissatisfaction and downing tools. I don't think that's a healthy environment. I don't think that it speaks to the vast amount of brain power that resides inside all of the unions. Anybody can stop working."

An ongoing row between Government and the unions culminated in thousands of angry Police officers, teachers and civil servants marching on Parliament on Friday in one of the largest demonstrations in the Island's history.

It was the first time officers from the Bermuda Police Association ever walked on Parliament. Officers are not allowed to strike or picket, but nearly half the Bermuda Police service – up to 200 off-duty officers and office staff – made their presence felt.

They stood shoulder to shoulder with members of all Bermuda's unions, with leaders threatening further action over the summer if Government fails to listen to their demands.

Dr. Brown emerged from the House of Assembly to face the marchers after most of their number had left, arriving only after Labour Minister Senator David Burch had to face the criticism and anger of union leaders at Government's rejection of binding arbitration awards for the Bermuda Public Services Union and Bermuda Police Association.

The protesters turned their backs on Sen. Burch when he began to speak, according to Mark Pettingill of the United Bermuda Party. Progressive Labour Party member and demonstrator Jonathan Starling subsequently accused Dr. Brown of cowardice on his blog site Catch a Fire.

"He is now regarded as a coward, and many in the crowd, including party members were openly calling him a national disgrace. Others were calling for his immediate resignation and a general strike to bring him down. His snub will be well remembered and not easily forgiven," he wrote.

Dr. Brown hit back yesterday, telling The Royal Gazette: "What I read was that a blogger said I was a coward because I didn't come down. There are two things that I could never be justly accused of – being lazy or a coward. I'm a lot of things that people may not like, but I'm not a coward. I grew up in a protest era, I grew up marching. I was in that kind of politics for years, before I chose the jacket-and-tie politics."

The demonstration was the subject of advance media reports - both broadcast and press. The Bermuda Sun's Friday morning edition reported a 9.30 a.m start time and advance notice was sent out by Government that services would be affected by a "meeting" between 9.15 a.m and 12 noon.

However, Dr. Brown said: "We knew there was going to be a demonstration, but we didn't know when. Parliament started at 10 a.m. We went through our normal course of business. I had a ministerial statement to deliver that had been planned for a week. The plan was simple. Minister Burch was to go down first and I was to follow him just as soon as I'd finished my statement. That's what I did. I was disappointed too that there weren't more people there. I like talking to crowds. The whole issue of my being afraid is just hogwash."

Union leaders are due to attend a Cabinet meeting tomorrow in a bid to thrash out their differences with Government, with Dr. Brown expressing hope that this will prove productive.

"Hopefully we'll develop some basic understandings. I, for a long time, have been concerned about the general statement of labour relations in Bermuda. About three or four months ago, I sat with three presidents of the BIU, the current president and his two predecessors. We were talking about this same issue," he said.

"What I'm going to tell them is how anxious I am to improve labour relations in Bermuda. And I want to take some of these issues off the table. Issues of money, etc., I believe we can get those resolved.

"Then we can get down to performance, because that's what the country runs on. The country runs on how well we do what we do. We won't be able to do it if we're not at work. I want to see an environment where people come to work for the sake of being productive and enjoy their work. That's my message and I'll be doing a lot of listening as well, because I want to hear the real issues. I think they can be reduced to writing and then let's go about starting to fix it."

As well as disputes over pay awards for Bermuda Police Association and Bermuda Public Services Union, the Bermuda Union of Teachers alleges that it has been frozen out of moves to reform the Island's ailing public school system.

Speaking last night Mike Charles, General Secretary of the Union of Teachers and Bermuda Trade Union Congress, said it will be the first time either of those organisations has had a meeting with the Premier.

"I guess we're pleased that the Premier has seen fit to meet with us," he said.

"What we would like to see come out of this meeting is that there should be some dialogue. We've not had a voice in many things that are going on."