There was no word last night from the Bermuda Trade Union Congress on the viability of a graduated system of furlough days that would spare low-earning Government workers from losing out.

However, two proponents of reserving furloughs for more salaried civil servants voiced their agreement for a sliding scale, in the wake of remarks by Sir John Swan, the former Premier, suggesting a compromise on the issue, which proved a flashpoint for last month’s industrial action.

Economic analyst Larry Burchall told The Royal Gazette he stood by his comments, in which across-the-board furloughs were mathematically and economically “neither fair nor reasonable”. Mr Burchall, who has often collaborated with Sir John in sounding the alarm over the Island’s rising debt and declining population, pointed to a benchmark figure of $400 a week to cover groceries for a family of four. Civil servants saddled with one unpaid day every month were effectively taking a 4.6 per cent reduction, he said.

For a low-earning civil service worker taking $50,000 a year, or $962 a week, the furloughs equated to a drop down to $918 a week, leaving only $518 left over after shopping for a week’s supply of groceries.

Former Government consultant Magnus Henagulph provoked controversy in 2013 when he won a prize from the Spending and Government Efficiency (SAGE) Commission for a 20-page report on inefficiency within the civil service. An Opposition statement one year later accused him of “throwing his Government colleagues under the bus” when he took a post as a private consultant for the governing One Bermuda Alliance. However, Mr Henagulph last night stuck to his guns, saying he was speaking his own opinion that low-earning civil servants ought to be exempted from cuts.

“I and others I have discussed this issue and we agree with Sir John Swan that furlough days should be graduated,” he said. “Those on the lower end of the pay scale should not take any cuts, while those on the higher end can afford to take more substantial cuts, perhaps 10 or 15 per cent.”

Government salaries in the administrative, professional technical and clerical grades are broken down on a 1 to 51 scale, running from the bottom number of $34,349 a year to $213,941 at the top end.

A five per cent cut for workers in the bracket of $35,000 to $50,000 annually would have a “very real and very tangible impact”. “An employee on $40,000 likely spends every penny they earn in a year,” the former Department of Communications and Information employee said.

“To take away five per cent, or $2,000 of their pay, will be a very painful cut. Add to this the recent Bermuda Industrial Union dues increase of 14 per cent — an increase of $104 per year — as well as increasing healthcare and other costs, and they are likely living paycheck to paycheck, struggling to pay bills and provide an acceptable standard of living for themselves and their families.

“However, those civil servants on PS 40 ($132,249) to PS 51 ($213,941) can afford to take a cut in pay without impacting their living standard as much as the lower paid workers.

A civil servant making $200,000 can likely afford to take a 10 per cent cut ($20,000) as their salary would still be $180,000. They will still be able to pay their bills and enjoy their current standard of living.”

Those in the middle pay scales could likely shoulder a salary reduction of between two and five per cent.

“By graduating the pay cuts, the majority of workers, who are mostly blue collar and who can least afford it, would sacrifice the least — with the burden shifted to those few on the higher end of the pay scale, mostly white collar, who can afford the cut,” Mr Henagulph said.

“I understand the Bermuda Trade Union Congress have said this is not an option as it may be divisive, but I think they should reconsider.

“The furlough days implemented during the last two years resulted in not a single Government employee being laid off. If furlough days are off the table going forward then it is more likely that civil servants will have to be made redundant.”

Imposing furloughs in areas such as Public Transportation, he pointed out, result in no cost savings.

A bus driver on furlough must be replaced by another driver to maintain their scheduled route.

“The Bermuda Industrial Union worked with Government and agreed that the drivers coming in on their day off would be paid straight time rather than time and a half, but there are no cost savings from bus drivers taking a furlough day.”

Mr Henagulph suggested that union staff publicise the salaries of their staff, paid for by the membership, to show if they had taken pay cuts in solidarity with other workers.

With the 2014/15 Budget now less than two weeks away, finding cost reductions remains a work in progress — and with the resumption of Parliament, Government is likely to face renewed calls from the Opposition to reveal details on salaries and spending in independent bodies such as the Bermuda Tourism Authority, which has faced repeated criticism from the Progressive Labour Party over its accounts.