Premier Ewart Brown last night defended redundancies forced on Bermudians in the New York tourism office.

Responding to reports on ZBM, the Premier said a US firm was now tasked with selling Bermuda from New York as part of a cost-cutting measure.

Dr. Brown did not reveal how many Bermudians had lost their jobs, but he told a public meeting at Francis Patton Primary School: "We hired a US company to sell, to US people, Bermuda.

"Their agreement is that the more they sell, the more they get paid. The less they sell, the less they get paid.

"The Bermudians who are being made redundant can also apply to this company to be hired, and if the company feels that those people are going to help them do their jobs they will hire those Bermudians.

"In doing this we are literally saving millions of dollars."

He added that the ousted Bermudians would be able to seek employment with Government.

Dr. Brown said an agency had been brought in to train the Bermudians but the project had not been successful.