Both Opposition party leaders last night signalled warnings of a summer of unrest after Premier Paula Cox rejected calls for Cabinet Ministers to take a symbolic pay cut.With two major unions angry Ministers’ $168,000-plus salaries remain untouched while workers must make sacrifices, United Bermuda Party leader Kim Swan cautioned an industrial showdown could be catastrophic in Bermuda’s current social climate.And Bermuda Democratic Alliance leader Craig Cannonier reacted angrily to Ms Cox’s claim Ministers can’t be expected to take home less money when they are under increased pressure trying to “do more with less”.“This makes no sense since all Bermudians are having to do more with less,” said Mr Cannonier. “All Bermudians are under pressure, not just the Premier and her Ministers. I can’t believe this.”Bermuda Public Services Union is marching over that and other issues tomorrow, while Bermuda Industrial Union has rejected a reduced pay offer as it urges Cabinet members to take a hit themselves.Ms Cox turned down those requests in her first speech to the nation last Thursday night.Last night, Mr Swan pointed to growing tensions as families struggle to cope financially, with no economic relief in sight.He said anxiety was increased by soaring gun violence, with many people seeing loved ones caught up in gang activity.“With Government and the unions at odds over ministerial pay cuts, my concern is with the fragile social state Bermuda finds itself in at present,” said Mr Swan.“A miscalculation of Bermuda’s social climate could prove catastrophic. Hence, the timing of the Premier’s defiant pronouncement is particularly worrying given the myriad of social problems Bermuda is dealing with simultaneously.“Up and down our country, I am witnessing Mr and Mrs Bermuda openly expressing their frustrations.“Bermuda can ill afford an industrial showdown, especially with the unprecedented pressure the people of our country are experiencing.“Respectfully, I am duty bound to appeal to Premier Cox, her Cabinet colleagues and union leaders to take note of the mood of the Country and how fragile our people are socially: akin to a social pressure cooker.“With our people’s emotions running high, we as their leaders need to do all we can to settle them down.”The bulk of Ms Cox’s speech to the nation was a call to arms over gang violence and rising unemployment.Addressing the calls for Ministers to reduce their own pay, she said: “It takes grit and character to resist the temptation to indulge the politics of appeasement and to say there will be no symbolic cuts in Ministers’ salaries.“This, in my view, would be an empty gesture, inappropriate for a Government or for any team facing the prospect of having to do more with less and having to do it in half the time under double the pressure.”Mr Cannonier argued: “Unless our Government takes a pay cut the people of Bermuda will have lost all confidence in them.“The union members are Bermudians speaking to the issue of what they believe to be fair for all. For our Premier to reason that taking a pay cut is an empty gesture especially when they have to do more with less is disheartening at best.”He added that by saying she didn’t want to indulge in the politics of appeasement, Ms Cox had shown Bermuda’s leaders “simply don’t get it”.“The civil unrest is not on it’s way it’s here,” he said.“To simply put your hands in the air and say ‘It’s a recession’ doesn’t put food on the table or a roof over our heads.“To tell us to gain new skills if we are not working is okay for white collar workers, however, what about those of us who must work or sleep on the streets, or our kids starve?“This is the reality people are facing. New initiatives have been a long time coming.”BDA chairman Michael Fahy dismissed the ‘more with less’ line as “absolute garbage”.“If you were doing more with less, you wouldn’t be cutting your bus schedule or other services,” he said.Mr Fahy said taking a pay cut would show leadership, adding: “Leadership is what’s lacking with this Government.”But Mr Fahy took issue with some of the BPSU’s reasons for marching on Cabinet tomorrow.The union is demonstrating it will only accept a 1.25 percent wage increase if Government guarantees there will be no redundancies or wage cuts.Mr Fahy said: “The offer of 1.25 percent by Government is not unreasonable under the circumstances.“It’s time for some honesty and some serious thinking in terms of how we are going to reduce this deficit we have. The private sector has been repeatedly laying off workers, cutting back hours and freezing wages.“It’s actually unreasonable for the BPSU to be making a demand to Government that they guarantee no redundancies. With services being cut, it seems to me that it’s close to inevitable that redundancies come.”The march, from 10am, also calls for Government to do everything it can to put a price freeze in place on essential products. Workers are told to meet at BPSU headquarters at 9.30am.Earlier this month, the BIU rejected Government’s offer of a wage freeze and straight time instead of overtime until the end of 2011.President Chris Furbert told the media on Friday, April 8: “The workers are willing to do their part, but they want to see Government doing its part too. I think a pay cut [for Cabinet Ministers] would do it.”Mr Furbert has not responded to requests for an update on negotiations since then.lUseful websites: www.ubp.bm, www.thealliance.bm, www.plp.bm