to the same immigration standards as former monopoly holder Cable & Wireless, MPs were told yesterday.

Shadow Home Affairs Minister Alex Scott made the call yesterday in the House of Assembly in the wake of news that C&W was considering making some of its staff redundant.

C&W has said it has lost market share since TeleBermuda was allowed to enter the overseas telephone market and was therefore having to consider which of its services added value to the company. It has not specified where or how many redundancies will be made.

Speaking during the second half of the debate on the Home Affairs Ministry, Mr. Scott said: "We hope Bermudians are not being used as pawns in what has become a corporate tug of war between two economic entities.'' He noted that C&W had a good track record in Bermuda and expressed surprise over Government's treatment of the firm when it made its recent telecommunication decisions.

He said the PLP hoped C&W would move cautiously at this time as he was sure it could appreciate the effect the situation was having on its staff.

And he added that any staff under the risk of being displaced should be offered all the protection Government could provide.

Noting that Cable & Wireless was almost staffed fully by Bermudians, Mr. Scott said TeleBermuda should be forced to comply to this standard also.

Home Affairs Minister Quinton Edness admitted C&W had been good partners with Government for a very long time and he hoped the present dispute would be resolved soon.

He said he was sure that C&W would not use its employees as pawns in its dispute with another entity.

Mr. Scott, was responding to Mr. Edness' delivery of his department's Ministerial Budget on February 27.

He was unable to speak at that time because he was confined to bed with back problems on doctor's orders and provisions were made for him to speak yesterday afternoon.

Yesterday, he went on to call the Bermuda Fire Services a success story.

Mr. Scott said a Progressive Labour Party Government would place greater emphasis on black and white Bermudians and the public needed to recognise this.

At the moment the Government was saying the economy was growing but who was it benefitting, he asked.

Looking at the Bermuda Fire Services, which received $5.9 million in the Budget, Mr. Scott noted it was once an all white, volunteer organisation.

It was now a "success story'', he claimed, because it had been made fully professional, fully Bermudian and was considered fully proficient by all.

The service also had union representation, he noted, and said this shot down all the arguments against Bermudianisation and unionisation.

"This reflects well on the Fire Service,'' said Mr. Scott. "Bermudianisation is good business. It is a good investment into the economy.'' In closing, the Shadow Minister said: "The economy is being shaped and is growing so that those with the greatest expectations are becoming increasingly non-Bermudian.'' When it was developed in the future, he said, it had to develop to include Bermudians.