Government is considering reviving controversial legislation to ensure greater fairness in the workplace, says the Premier's race consultant Rolfe Commissiong.

The Workforce Equity Bill was tabled just before the 2007 election but never enacted after criticism from employers who said black Bermudians were being held back by poor education, not racism.

The law would require companies with 40 or more employees to 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. The news comes after Government figures, released in the 2009 edition of The Bermuda Job Market Employment Briefs, showed blacks earned on average 40 percent less than whites.

For 2007-8, the median annual income for blacks was $50,539, while for whites it was more than 40 percent higher at $71,607.

Mr. Commissiong told The Royal Gazette: "Cabinet is still considering the implementation of a reworked Workforce Equity Bill.

"Whether Government will move forward with this approach, remains to be seen, although I certainly hope so."

He said the Workforce Equity Bill, could be a vital tool in levelling the playing field, particularly for the best and brightest black Bermudians.

"Black Bermudians in whom society and their community have invested so much in, in terms of education and other investments, should have an 'insurance policy' such as the workforce equity approach to ensure that they will be afforded the same incomes and opportunity for advancement as their white counterparts enjoy."

But he said various studies showed that is not necessarily the case now.

Mr. Commissiong acknowledged that education was partly to blame for disparities as he urged a dual attack on injustice which also involved Government favouring black companies with a proportion of contracts for a set period of perhaps two decades.

He said: "I am firmly of the view that we must have a two-pronged approach which not only targets the income gap between white and black but also the wealth gap.

"We have to also retool the public education system in a way that prepares more black Bermudians, and in particular our black Bermudian males to be able to compete and succeed in this 21st Century economy and workforce, not only in Bermuda, but worldwide."

Mr. Commissiong said institutional racism sponsored by the state/government prior to the 1960s, had left Bermuda with a terrible legacy with respect to education for Bermuda's blacks.

"And the ripples of that neglect within the context of the Jim Crow-style education system which existed only three generations ago, are still with us today."

He said the other prong which could powerfully assist in addressing the wealth gap between black and white Bermudians borrowed ideas from both Government and Opposition the economic empowerment concept.

But he argued it must be specifically tailored to benefit those who have been historically disadvantaged, Bermuda's black community.

"This approach is necessary to jump-start black entrepreneurship, black-based capital formation and other related benefits.

"I always find it a little odd that if one is asked to name Bermuda's most successful and prominent black businessmen you would still struggle in 2009 to name at least five to seven individuals whose success would rival that of the plethora of examples from Bermuda's white community, despite the fact that Bermuda's white community represents less than 30 percent of the population."

The only entity which can facilitate this is Government, said Mr. Commissiong.

It would mean redirecting or setting aside resources such as Government contracts to black-dominated businesses.

"And it must be codified under law with proper guidelines and criterion. As it stands Government expends approximately $500 million on goods and services locally. A large part of that goes to the payment of Government wages, salaries and other benefits. However, at least $200 million of that or more, goes to purchase goods and contract services for Government locally, as mentioned, as in building or capital projects for example.

"I believe that this approach or plan at its height, representing perhaps no more than 50 percent of Government contracts during a specified period, perhaps not lasting longer than 20 years before 'sun setting' (end of the legislative mandate), would be very useful in beginning to address the gap in wealth between the two dominant groups in Bermuda."

Mr. Commissiong said the programme would obviously not totally close the wealth gap as white wealth at the highest levels had been accumulated over generations.

"A lot of it is as a result of white Bermudians in effect benefiting from 'white affirmative action' backed by successive Governments over the course of centuries. But I do believe it would begin a process that would have untold benefits for Bermuda's black community and help somewhat in redressing the iniquities. It can longer be acceptable for too many in the black community that each succeeding generation, in affect, starts from scratch."

But Mr. Commissiong said he was unsure if enough whites were truly committed to social justice.

"As my good friend the late Julian Hall said in the documentary The Big Conversation, 'Bermudians have to want this. They have to want equality', with respect to the issue of racial equity or relative parity as it relates to incomes.

"I am not sure that enough people within the white community who have historically benefited from these disparities or enough black Bermudians who have historically and presently been disadvantaged by the above, really want to achieve this goal beyond uttering politically correct phrases expressing their concern about the persistence of the aforementioned disparities."

Despite some improvement Mr. Commissiong believes there has been some stagnation over the last quarter century, largely because the black Bermudian, particularly males, had been marginalised amid the monumental shift from a tourism-based economy to one based on financial services.

But while he believes most white Bermudians would not favour his suggested approaches Mr. Commissiong argued that in the long term the white community will benefit as well.

"History however has proven that all of the changes in the modern era which black Bermudians have struggled to achieve socially, economically and politically have not disadvantaged white Bermudians; but to the contrary have empowered them and made for a more, tolerant, democratic and prosperous society.

"I firmly believe as we begin in a more concrete way to address the economic divide which separates our two communities the same outcome will occur with both communities arriving at the same consensus down the road that not only was it expedient to do so; but it was also the morally right thing to do as well."