Government MPs were butting heads last night -- with each other -- over a controversial new scheme to pay contractors to hire Bermudians.

The squabble, which erupted in the House after the motion to adjourn, prompted Works and Engineering Minister Alex Scott to call backbencher Derrick Burgess "part of the Loyal Opposition.'' Three PLP backbenchers -- Mr. Burgess, Dale Butler and Reginald Burrows -- took a stand in the House against their own Cabinet over "a pilot scheme'' Mr. Scott is planning to run on the construction site of the new Berkeley Institute.

Backbencher and Bermuda Industrial Union president Derrick Burgess fired the first shot in the divisive battle when he held a press conference yesterday afternoon.

Mr. Burgess expressed the BIU's anger over the "cash for Bermudians'' scheme.

He said "people are incensed'' over the plan to pay a cash benefit for every Bermudian hired by the successful bidder on the Government's massive $70 million construction project.

And last night in the House he said the Minister was being "irresponsible'' going ahead with the scheme. "We shouldn't be begging employers to hire Bermudians. It's sick,'' he said.

"Government's decision is something that Bermudians don't need and didn't ask for,'' Mr. Burgess said earlier in the day. "Bermudians have a right to work in our country and we shouldn't have to pay anyone to hire us.'' The plan should be scrapped, he said. "We ask the Minister for Works and Engineering to abandon that plan.'' Works and Engineering Minister Alex Scott stuck to his guns however. He defended his scheme both to the Royal Gazette and later in the house. He told the Royal Gazette , on this matter, Mr. Burgess simply hadn't done his homework and his statements were merely a "publicity opportunity''.

"I don't think he understands the scope and the scale of the policy,'' he said. "It goes much further than Bermudians just having the right to work.'' At the BIU press conference, however, Mr. Burgess said that Government had "let the workers down''. He said there are already laws in place to protect Bermudians in the workplace and repeated these comments in the house.'' Burgess, Scott square off over cash for labour scheme It was this point that brought backbencher Reg Burrows to his feet as well.

"I'm also not happy with this scheme,'' he said. "As chairman of the Bermuda Immigration Board I know our board goes to great extremes to make sure any qualified Bermudian that applies for a job, gets the job.'' And he said there simply weren't enough Bermudian construction workers to meet the current demand level in the industry. If Government wants to offer incentives, it should be for apprentices and trainees, he argued.

All sides seemed to agree on this, as Dale Butler highlighted the same idea when he urged the Minister to abandon the scheme and the UBP's Michael Dunkley also said the Opposition would fully support that type of initiative. "But that's not what (the Minister) is talking about,'' he said.

Mr. Burrows' comments brought Labour and Home Affairs Minister Paula Cox into the fray in support of Mr. Scott. Ms Cox said that Cabinet was fully behind the Minister's pilot scheme and that Immigration was in no way "divesting itself of its legal and statutory responsibility'' with regards to ensuring Bermudians are hired first.

What Mr. Scott is doing, she argued, is bringing people who might otherwise not have been hired into jobs. Some of these people might be seen as "unemployables'' now but would get a chance even if they might not have the exact skills they would otherwise have needed to secure the job.

At the press conference, however, Mr. Burgess suggested the scheme is more for contractors than for workers. "Paying to line the pockets of contractors is crazy. They've been making money the whole time,'' he said.

Government would be much better off making these companies pay their employees for overtime -- whether Bermudian or not, he said. "Some of these people are working over 60 hours a week at the regular pay rate.'' Workers are so angry, Mr. Burgess said, that the union had "ordered'' him to give the press conference to protest the scheme.

But Mr. Scott told the Royal Gazette he was "perplexed'' as to why the BIU chief didn't "simply turn in his chair'' and discuss the matter with him directly in the house or elsewhere.

"I'm available to him,'' said Mr. Scott. "I have to believe this is more of a publicity opportunity for Mr. Burgess.'' Mr. Scott told the Royal Gazette that providing incentives for hiring locals is done in many jurisdictions and he used the example of using incentives to promote hiring of minorities in American urban areas.

In addition, he said this pilot scheme would allow the Government to collect statistics on large job sites that it simply doesn't have. "We have no information on skill sets required or pay scales offered,'' he said or the amount of Bermudians versus non-Bermudians working.

With this new data, he said, Government would get a more information of what it takes to get a project like Berkeley to successful completion.

He told the Royal Gazette Mr. Burgess was simply not seeing the whole picture of what the plan was trying to achieve. "It goes far beyond the simplistic view of it is a right to work in your own country,'' he said. "It's always been a right.'' "We're working to ensure maximum employment for Bermudians,'' he said. "It's a win-win situation.'' He said that the successful bidder would be required to pay the union rates to employees and that Mr. Burgess was off the mark. And, he told the Royal Gazette that getting the data on the site would be crucial to identifying in which particular areas trainees are needed.

Given that Mr. Burgess had argued for hiring Bermudians for so many years, he said, the criticisms were strangest coming from him.

Now, Mr. Scott said, contractors would not see measures promoting Bermudian workers as punitive. He said contractors would have to do extra paperwork to keep the numbers Government is looking for but they would be provided the money for doing it.

In the House, Mr. Scott declined to give the specific figures that would be attached to each Bermudian hired saying he did not wish to pre-empt the tender process which is not yet complete. But, he said, that information will be released soon.

"There'll be no secrets,'' he said.

*** House coverage will continue in Monday's Royal Gazette