As Premier Ewart Brown prepares for a showdown with angry union bosses today, Opposition Leader Kim Swan said recent demonstrations show his Government is out of touch with mainstream Bermuda.

The Premier this morning is due to come face-to-face with most of the Island's union chiefs, including those from Bermuda Public Services Union (BPSU) and Bermuda Police Association (BPA), who are incensed at Government's refusal to accept binding arbitration awards.

Representatives from other associations locked in dispute with Government — including Bermuda Union of Teachers, Bermuda Trade Union Congress, the Association of School Principals and Bermuda Prison Officers Association — are also expected at the crunch meeting at Cabinet.

It follows an historic march on Friday, involving thousands of angry Police officers, teachers and civil servants who protested on the grounds of the House of Assembly.

Mr. Swan said in a statement yesterday: "It is unfortunate that circumstances were allowed to get to the point where the Premier was forced to call today's extraordinary meeting, but I see it as a sign that he and his Government are simply out of step and out of touch with mainstream Bermuda.

"The frustrations expressed by workers are understandable. The Government pays no attention to them and, when it does, it behaves with callous disregard. Its decisions in the last few weeks to appeal binding arbitration settlements in contract negotiations with public servants and Police are the worst examples of this disregard."

The Premier — whom union bosses say has turned down their requests for meetings over the disputes in recent months — further aggravated Friday's crowds by failing to show his face until most people had left.

Dr. Brown has denied protesters' accusations that he is a coward, saying that he was inside reading a Ministerial statement and did not know when the demonstration would take place.

Mr. Swan said Government needed to cut back on needless spending and concentrate on helping the working class.

"That the marches were taking place against a 'labour' government must be seen as an indictment of the PLP Government and, in particular, its 10-member Cabinet," he continued.

"But one has to ask: Is this really a labour government? Is this a government committed to working men and women?

"What I see is a Government given more to self-regard than empathy, more to flashy high-spending than decisions that help working class Bermudians get by in an economy that sucks up every hard-earned dollar they make.

"First things that come to mind when I think of this Government tell a story: the Playboy mansion, GP1, gambling, faith-based tourism, attacking the media, bullying of civil servants, Coco Reef, shutting down Parliamentary debate and stifling questions from the Opposition about Ministers travelling overseas/abroad a lot.

"What must gall unionised workers is watching the huge amounts of money being spent by the Government on glitz and glamour while they are being pushed hard to the wall by their negotiators.

"It has got to be hard to accept arguing for months over a one percent pay difference for BPSU workers to read that the Music Festival in October is paying up to $1 million for one act.

"It has got to be hard to accept that a binding agreement on the terms of a new contract is suddenly not.

"It has got to be hard to watch huge-spending capital projects going untendered to people who can be seen as insiders. It must be hard to read reports of huge payments for overseas consultants when penny-pinching seems to be the rule for local workers.

"Some people are doing very well in Bermuda today, but the people who are marching in protest for a better deal are clearly not."