Figures showing large gaps between the earnings of blacks and whites have angered many. In the third part of a series looking at the wealth gap between white and black residents, Matthew Taylor talks with Bermuda Public Services Union leader Ed Ball, who says that assessing why racial disparities still exist in the workplace is not a simple matter.

The bald stats tell us that whites earn 40 percent more than blacks, but is Bermuda still an unfair society or are some employees not up to the mark?

Both, believes union leader Ed Ball who said there is plenty of blame to go around in any honest assessment of lingering inequalities in the workplace.

While big business is at pains to claim that educational discrepancies, not racial barriers, are at the heart of the inequality, Mr. Ball believes some qualified blacks are still being held back because of the old boy's network.

The Bermuda Public Services Union leader said previous generations had fought hard to get educated, but black Bermudians were still returning from college with qualifications only to find they were not part of the club.

Yet that practice didn't necessarily make for efficient business, pointed out Mr. Ball.

"Look at Bill Gates he said to his executives 'Tell me what's wrong with the company, don't be the person who tells me what I want to hear'."

But other potential employees are ruling themselves out of good careers, despite being well qualified, because of their own complacency said Mr. Ball.

"I hear from exempt companies that they can't get their Bermudian employees to go back to school even young, single Bermudians won't take the initiative to carry on with further education.

"Others believe because they got a piece of paper 20 years ago it's now applicable to today.

"It's all over the place in terms of employment you can't have a fix on what's really happening."

Mr. Ball said pay differences were also reflected in the different benefits packages offered to Bermudians and expats which he felt brought up human rights and discrimination issues.

Exempt company bosses justified the generous bonus packages on the need to lure people from their home countries.

"But I find that very interesting because most people want to come, they hear the word Bermuda and automatically think of the blue seas, etc."

Government has long since stamped out housing allowances for expat civil servants because it was unfair to pay foreigners more than Bermudians for the same work, said Mr. Ball.

"If you get paid $100,000 or $150,000 you should be able to afford [to rent] a house, same as a Bermudian."

And he said the private sector now recognised that Bermudians didn't need reallocation fees and other enticements and so was now more open to hiring locally.

What the 2007 statistics from the Commission for Unity and Racial Equality (CURE) show is that there are plenty of blacks at middle management level.

At 47 percent, they are up from 42 percent in 2000 and now outnumber all their counterparts. But at the executive level they are just 27 percent of the total, up from 20 percent in 2000.

Again Mr. Ball sees good and bad.

He said over the last five to seven years there have been a number of black Bermudians being appointed as CEO, senior partner and other such titles in private local companies or exempt companies.

"Is the statistic sustainable? That is the unknown.

"I am seeing some exempt companies which for years had white CEOs and now I am seeing black Bermudians as CEOs and senior partners and the like."

So things are getting better? Not quite.

Mr. Ball will also tell you of the expat middle manager holding back a young Bermudian who has met all the additional education criteria, passed international examinations to be qualified but the boss simply doesn't fancy leaving Bermuda.

"They like the lifestyle and the money they are making - that is unfair.

"That Bermudian is meeting every possible criteria but they keep changing. That's discrimination at its worst."

The way things are going Mr. Ball doesn't think race fairness in the workplace will change much unless training is improved significantly.

But he realises some firms are just keeping their heads above water so can't shell out much on developing employees.

More needs to be done to bring expertise to Bermuda through the Bermuda College, said Mr. Ball, so training could be done on Island rather than sending people away.

But that's only worthwhile if programmes meet international standards.

Two years ago Government floated the Workforce Equity Act, which would require companies put plans in place to employ black Bermudians at all levels according to their representation in the wider workforce, or risk being fined up to $50,000.

Asked if such a law would be helpful Mr. Ball said: "You need set criteria, not be vindictive or force people.

"It has to provide for people willing to learn who are not coming with attitudes.

"There some people who just feel they are entitled.

"Nobody wants someone who brings a whole bunch of baggage into a company, who can't perform but think they are the best thing since sliced bread.

"So if we are going to bring in an equity act it has to be well thought out, with testing have an element of training with international standards.

"Many of us realise what worked 20 years ago can't work today. Unfortunately that's where a lot of our problems are.

"There are some of us who are so angry because something happened to them 20 years ago. But there's a new dawn.

"Yes, be mindful of the past but what have you done to improve yourself, to make the point that you are now qualified to take that job?"

Mr. Ball noted black women were prepared to study and improve skills but some black males had chips on their shoulders.

"If you bring all these other issues with you who wants to hire you? If someone's reasoning powers are so far left, who would want to hire them?

"We don't know what human resources is seeing when they are interviewing someone we don't know what Joe Blow brings to the table, whether he is taking continuing education courses, whether he has sufficient training.

"We don't know whether he has a bad attitude and feels he is entitled to the job and the employer owes him rather the employer owns the business and has the right to hire and fire within reason and the law.

"Those are the types of things we see on a regular basis. You think to yourself, I see why you weren't hired but they don't want to hear that.

"One day perhaps they will come around, if they can help themselves."

l Tomorrow: Bermuda Telephone Company CEO Edgar Dill made it to the very top, despite a humble background and lingering racism. But he fears Bermuda's education system, rather than lack of opportunity, is now holding back others hoping to follow in his footsteps.