Union leader Edward Ball Jr. has hit out at personal contracts which he says could deprive the civil service of valuable expertise.

However civil service head Stanley Oliver said the signing of five-year contracts by senior staff was a bid to improve efficiency and succession planning.

Mr. Ball said about five senior people had been put on special contracts which the Bermuda Public Services Association had never seen.

He said: "I find this deplorable. It's a form of union busting, it erodes the fibre of the collective bargaining agreement.

"I haven't seen the contracts, I have no notion whatsoever about the terms and conditions or when they were brought in.

"The union will be investigating. I have only just found out through the grapevine so I have no idea about the how far it has reached."

He said he believed Government was trying to ensure people had the skills to fit their jobs but he said performance appraisals should be used to find out if employees were up to scratch.

Mr. Ball said the civil service needed to have people to remain in their posts in order to have the expertise to advice governments.

He said: "If they get rid of people they get rid of the experts."

However Mr. Oliver said the contracts would maintain continuity when people retired.

He said: "In the past, not enough was done with regard to succession planning and the civil service saw senior officers retire and their posts remain vacant until another suitable person was appointed.

"In order to ensure a smoother transition, more efficient management and opportunities for upward mobility whenever possible, the civil service intends to do all it can to ensure that competent junior officers are considered for upward mobility and are assisted with their upward mobility through proper mentoring and training.

"We believe that it is the responsibility of senior officers to ensure that they have a succession plan in place and the five-year contract will encourage senior officers to be also thinking along these lines."He said the five-year contracts were not intended to disadvantage the officer but would help upward mobility and attract more people into the service.

He said: "This is not union-busting - nor will it ever be because this Government is pro-union."

Mr. Oliver said the five-year contracts can be extended by mutual agreement and if the senior officer is not offered a renewal in their present post they will retained in a position with a comparable salary.