Bermuda was braced for industrial activity this morning, with Michael Dunkley describing the People’s Campaign’s call for an island-wide work stoppage as “irresponsible and misconceived”.

At 11pm last night, the Bermuda Government warned of likely disruptions to public services today, suggesting several days of talks with union leaders had failed to stave off a major demonstration from opponents to the Pathways to Status Bill.

The Premier had said the proposed work stoppage would be illegal and, earlier yesterday evening, Michael Fahy, the Minister of Home Affairs, had said all parties involved had indicated they had no desire to take part in unlawful action.

However, People’s Campaign member LaVerne Furbert reissued a statement that had initially been retracted due to unspecified errors on Wednesday, urging people to join in an island-wide withdrawal of labour.

“Remember one thing, people, there is no law against you calling in sick for one day,” Ms Furbert wrote on Facebook.

At about 10.20pm, Mr Dunkley responded by urging people to ignore the call, saying it was coming from a group whose leadership is “accountable to no one”.

But by 11pm, the Government had issued a statement saying: “The Government is advising the public this evening that it is anticipating industrial activity tomorrow.

“As a result, there will likely be a disruption of public services — such as public transportation and others — which is expected to inconvenience the public.

“The public is encouraged to make alternative arrangements wherever possible. The Government will update tomorrow once a full assessment of service disruption has been determined.”

It is understood the Bermuda Union of Teachers circulated a communication to its membership yesterday stating that a withdrawal of labour had been called and that, while immigration reform was not directly related to the union’s bargaining agreement, it was a matter of national significance and members should let their conscience guide them.

Senator Fahy released to the media correspondence between union leaders and the Government which showed the threat of an island-wide labour stoppage was made as early as Tuesday.

Mr Dunkley had responded to that threat, from Bermuda Industrial Union leader Chris Furbert, by saying the move would “no doubt harm the economic recovery of Bermuda, which we can ill afford”.

Initially writing on behalf of the union’s general council, Mr Furbert gave Mr Dunkley 24 hours to withdraw the legislation, saying it was the latest in a series of critical issues in which the Government refused “to listen or include the people of Bermuda”.

In his reply, dated Wednesday, March 9, the Premier pointed out that the contested legislation was not up for debate in today’s House of Assembly, adding that a disruption of public services risked sending “the wrong message to people thinking of visiting or investing in Bermuda, potentially hurting employment opportunities”.

“I invite you to pause and not call on all people to withdraw their labour, so that we can agree a way forward.”

According to a statement from his ministry, Mr Fahy had met on Wednesday with Mr Furbert and Jason Hayward, the president of the Bermuda Public Services Union, with Trevor Moniz, the Attorney-General, in which the request to withdraw the Bill was reiterated.

Mr Fahy said both presidents had said some in the community had called for “undesirable activity”, but that there had been “healthy and fruitful discussion”.

“Both parties indicated that they had no desire to see any form of unlawful action in the community.”

Another meeting yesterday included the Reverend Nicholas Tweed of the People’s Campaign. While the Pathways to Status Bill has not been removed from the Order Paper of Parliament, the Government offered a consultation committee to discuss “matters of mutual interest” with unions.

If the legislation were approved by MPs, its implementation would be held off until “later in the summer” to enable a dialogue on matters including the use of low-income foreign workers over Bermudian staff.

Although Mr Fahy said the contentious Bill would not be taken off the parliamentary orders, the Government proposed that if it passed its debate in the House, it would be delayed for talks with unions to take place.

Those talks “could include but not be restricted to a living wage, review of work permit policy to further ensure that Bermudians are given even more training opportunities and dealing with concerns about the use of low paid guest workers over Bermudian workers,” the statement added.

“The Government believes this will assist in ensuring that Bermudians get every opportunity in their own country.”

In a radio interview on the Sherri J show, Rev Tweed said a swiftly retracted People’s Campaign e-mail sent out on Wednesday calling for “an island-wide withdrawal of labour” had been issued in “administrative error”.

Opposition leader Marc Bean said yesterday morning that he had not heard about the People’s Campaign’s recalled work stoppage proposal until he read about it in The Royal Gazette.

Also yesterday morning, Mr Fahy told this newspaper that the Government had not had any dialogue with the People’s Campaign “for some time”, expressing disappointment if the group had planned a work stoppage. The minister added that no decision had yet been made on which day the Pathways to Status Bill would be debated.

By 8pm yesterday the petition at change.org in favour of Pathway to Status had 3,200 supporters, while the Immigration Reform Action Group’s petition calling for comprehensive bipartisan immigration reform stood at just over 1,300 supporters.

• For the sequence of correspondence, culminating in the Premier’s response to the People’s Campaign’s call for labour unrest, click on the PDF link under “Related Media”