Trade unionists were reserved but sceptical in their reaction to the concept of “shared sacrifices” in the One Bermuda Alliance Government’s new fiscal plan for the year ahead.Executives at the Bermuda Public Services Union (BPSU) and the Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU) questioned whether the sacrifices required will be equally shared.Both unions reserved full comment until their executives fully review the Budget statement, but they called for “proportional sacrifices to be equal across the board”.BPSU General Secretary Ed Ball said that while Government acknowledged homeowners with their mortgages in arrears, to date, there have been no reductions on interest rates.The Minister referred to the “unprecedented human toll” the economic downturn has had on “thousands of unemployed and underemployed” Bermudians in recent years.Finance Minister Bob Richards also said: “There is evidence that hundreds of mortgages are in arrears, meaning that many people live in fear of losing their homes.”The resulting distress and pressure caused by “these negative economic forces” is “intense and unrelenting”, he said.Said Mr Ball: “I keep hearing this issue that the banks cannot reduce mortgage rates, everybody’s suffering but the interest rates are still high.“Countries that have pulled themselves out of the doldrums of the economic downturn use several initiatives, one being reduced mortgage rates, accompanied by price freezes on essential goods, staple foods and cost containment on utility costs.“Everyone’s going to have the feel the pain but I don’t see that happening equally, everybody means the rich, poor and the indifferent,” he said.The Minister also warned that public sector workers will soon face reductions in compensation with union negotiations set to begin for white and blue collar public sector workers.But Mr Ball questioned the losses incurred by the workers already, most notably those who are due to retire from public service within the next three years.“Their pension rates depend on the salaries they earn today, if that rate is reduced in one of the next three years, when these workers retire, they will take even further hits,” he said.BIU President Chris Furbert also expressed job security concerns for Government’s blue collar workers but he declined further comment until the executive has reviewed the Budget.