Employers should move away from the assumption that they have the automatic right to bring in foreign workers, Environment Minister Arthur Hodgson has warned.

Mr. Hodgson said if Bermuda is to have a sustainable economy, companies must consider the impact on the entire Island infrastructure of bringing in overseas workers.

He said Bermuda was the only Country in the world where businesses believed they always had the right to import workers if they could not find staff at home.

In an interview for The Royal Gazette 's Bermuda at the Crossroads series, Mr.

Hodgson said: "You can't make the assumption that if I need an employee I should have the right to go and get him because when that employee comes here he is not only impacting on my business, he is impacting on a lot of other people.'' Mr. Hodgson said he wanted a change of attitude from employers to encourage them to look to what was available on the Island rather than a new Government policy to tighten up on foreign workers.

"We're not so much changing policies as saying you've got to consider other things. The assumption that you have the right to impact on others without them having an input into it is not on.'' Read the full interview with Mr. Hodgson on Page 4.