The Trade Union Congress and the Bermuda Industrial Union have agreed in principle to Government’s wage cut and pensions contribution freeze proposal.The agreement was immediately praised by Kim Swan, interim Leader of the UBP. But the One Bermuda Alliance is reserving comment for another time.The Police Association is the only union which has not yet made a decision. A spokesman for the Police Association says that an electronic vote will be held this week to allow all members to participate.TUC President Shine Hayward said that individual unions representing public sector workers in his organisation had their own caveats, along with the BIU which is not a member of the TUC, and will be expressing them directly to the Government.But a letter was sent to Government yesterday following a meeting of the five affected TUC member unions and the BIU.“The Trade Union Congress and the Bermuda Industrial Union have agreed in principle to Government’s proposal,” said Mr Hayward.“Each individual union have their own caveat and they are responding directly to Government with respect to their caveats.”On the Police Association, Mr Hayward said: “We are also hoping that they too will come on board, understanding the situation we are in. Of course, they too will have their caveats.”Asked to elaborate on the caveats, Mr Hayward said “It’s really about the how. They want to help but it’s agreeing on the how.”Secretary General of the Bermuda Public Services Union, Ed Ball, confirmed that agreement in principle had been reached.But he would not reveal what caveats his union had, saying they were now subject to negotiation with Government.Government’s proposal is to cut wages to be matched by a freeze of worker’s contributions into the public servants pension funds.Take home pay will not be adversely affected and could even see a modest increase by the arrangement.Mr Hayward indicated that the process of coming to a decision had been a healthy one but faulted the Government for not coming to the unions earlier.Government had approached the unions early this month and asked for a decision before Budget Day which was on February 24, he said.The decision-in-principle had been arrived at over a short period of time but “it happened as a result of a number of meetings taken place which is a testament to the fact that when we meet and dialogue we get things done.”He said members had felt pressured by the Government’s requested deadline.And he revealed that the unions had decided that they would in fact wait until they knew what was in the Budget before making a decision on whether to accept Government’s offer.“Members were being asked to take a cut and a freeze without knowing what was in the budget, and that was one of the reasons why we decided to wait until after the budget,” he said.“We didn’t want to agree to a cut or a freeze and then discover they were being subject to an increase in taxes.”But while he applauded key players involved in the discussions, including union executives, Premier Paula Cox and Assistant Cabinet Secretary Judith Hall Bean, Mr Hayward said there were still some concerns.“There are still some grey areas or questions that need to be answered which probably cannot be answered at this time,” he said.“But it’s a wait and see because none of us truly know what will be coming down the pipeline next year, or whether the economy is going to turn around after this one year period.“But we feel that if we can continue some consistent dialogue with Government, that probably will eliminate the potential for any surprises.”The pay cut frees up a tidy sum of money, estimated at around $31 million, and brings the total savings for Government, which has already decided to freeze its own contributions to the pension fund, to $62 million.Government is aiming to reduce its borrowing requirement this year which stands at $172 million for the next fiscal year.Asked for the party’s comment on the unions’ agreement-in-principle, a spokesperson for the One Bermuda Alliance said it will make a comment in due course.The OBA has criticised the deal saying that by tampering with the pension fund, it represents a “raid on the future”.But the United Bermuda Party said it was “gratified” and unsurprised by the news.“We are not surprised by the news especially in the case for the BIU who in 2009 brokered and extended an arrangement with the Hotel Employers of Bermuda for a wage freeze which preserved jobs for workers and this was well ahead of the PLP government fully coming to terms that we were faced with a serious recession,” said interim UBP Leader Kim Swan.“We in the United Bermuda Party have repeatedly encouraged the PLP Government to demonstrate leadership by example.“Hence, when Premier Cox indicated that PLP MPs had agreed to a wage cut, we recognised that the PLP had taken on-board our and others’ pleas hence we agreed with the Premier’s request without attaching conditions.”He said that the fact that the Government had shown good faith by accepting a wage freeze for MPs, after being asked to do so by the unions, which had helped the process along.“This agreement in principle shows the type cooperation necessary to move our country forward and we applaud the union members for their collective decision.“Whilst Bermuda has still a long way to go to get Bermuda out of the economic wilderness, this is a step in the right direction.”