Sen. Terry Lister (PLP) issued the warning on Wednesday in the Senate.

"It breaks the spirit of the black man,'' he said.

His comments followed those of Sen. Lawrence Scott (UBP) who claimed Portuguese-owned construction companies are discriminating against unionised black Bermudian workers.

On a number of job sites, he said, one Bermudian could be found in a team of five Portuguese.

"This should send alarm bells ringing,'' he said. "This is not healthy for our industrial relations.'' Skilled Bermudian carpenters are urged to take a few days off when they are not needed during certain stages of a building project, he said.

Meanwhile their Portuguese counterparts were kept on to do related work.

"Young black Bermudians will be discouraged from working in the trades,'' he said.

"This society has a strange way of polarising itself along racial groupings and these practices encourage that,'' he said. "These practices must be discouraged.'' Sen. Scott said it meant that young Bermudian men would never acquire the training and skills to do the work.

He added he intended to monitor the situation and bring it to the attention of the Employers Council.

Sen. Lister said the situation was the result of a plan to destroy the unions.

Jobs, he said, citing the Prospect excavation as an example, are going to non-unionised companies.

"As the trend continues, black males will be discouraged from the trades,'' Sen. Lister said.

This, he said, followed a trend in the hotel industry where in every department, the number of Bermudian male has significantly fallen during the past few years.

While the Progressive Labour Party is accused of playing the race card, it should be recognised that some people are being "shut out'', Sen. Lister said.

"On the surface it is a beautiful country but you scratch beneath the surface and it all goes wrong. It is race related. People believe things happen to them because of their race.'' Sen. Lister said he received a slap in the face the day after debating the White Paper on Racism to find a young white man convicted of a serious offence was handed down a suspended prison sentence. His lawyer contended he was at risk at a majority black prison.

"When we get outside -- nothing has really changed,'' Sen. Lister said. Also in the Senate's motion to adjourn, Sen. Alf Oughton expressed concern at the closing of the Woodlands and Cedar Grove special schools.

He said he was moved at a meeting of parents with disabled children. And while he was "pleased to go along with the idea of mainstreaming'' he said there were no special facilities in schools for children under five.