Labour Minister David Burch has warned that he will take "decisive action" against employers who lay off Bermudians but keep foreign workers on the payroll.

He told the Senate on Wednesday that companies making job cuts due to the economic downturn had to get rid of expatriates first but suggested that wasn't happening in the construction industry.

"I may have to take some decisions today... in regard to revoking work permits," he said. "Bermudians are being let go and guest workers are being kept on. It can't happen.

"If you are doing that, I want to put people on notice, it's going to be 'too late, the angel cried'. I will not hesitate to take appropriate decisive action against employers who are flouting the law of the Country.

"I'm not going to tolerate on either side — from employers or employees — just blatant abuse. It's causing me some real concern."

The Construction Association of Bermuda was due to have a board meeting last night and said it would comment today.

Sen. Burch told the Upper Chamber that the Department of Labour was working hard to help unemployed Bermudians get themselves into a better position to find employment.

He said the majority of jobless people were "unskilled and uneducated" — hence why they were having trouble finding employment during a recession.

And he said even those with decent qualifications might have to accept entering a company on the bottom rung.

The Government Senate leader said Bermudians should view any period of unemployment as a chance to "retool, redirect and reposition" themselves — and that his department could help.

He recounted the tale of a mother who called him up after her 27-year-old lost his job. "They are never going to be able to keep the jobs if you don't push them out of the bed and say 'go and fend for yourself,'" he said.

"They have got to have a dose of reality. Send the boy to see me and you can't come with him."