BIU President Derrick Burgess has hit back at claims that many workers are lazy and says management should be blamed if this is the case.

In last Thursday's Royal Gazette Bermuda Public Services Association Ed Ball said full employment meant some workers felt so safe in their job they stopped trying.

And yesterday Bermuda Small Development Corporation General Manager William Spriggs said idleness in the workplace had been a problem for years.

But Mr. Burgess said: "Workers must be motivated. That's the responsibility of the management.

"You just don't hire somebody, put them on the job and leave them. You must motivate them.

"You have management in this country and in the world receiving a cheque and not doing their job.

"In the boardroom they blame all the inefficiencies on the worker. It seems like it's beat up week on the workers and we take exception to that.

"Worker know by the agreement they have to work.

"If a worker goes on the job and he doesn't have the equipment what result do you think you are going to get? Don't put all the blame on the workers.

"There has to be a solution. They are not looking at the reasons workers are lazy. Not only employees are lazy, you have employers who are lazy.

"It's not just the employees.'' Asked if the work ethic was lacking in Bermuda Mr. Burgess said it was the responsibility of management to correct it and say "this is how we do things, this is how it goes here''.

Mr. Burgess noted that hotel dining room staff used to be inspected to ensure they were clean and ready for work.

He said: "They would check hair and fingernails. If you didn't reach the standard you couldn't work in that department.

"Today it doesn't happen except in a few places. So you find workers working in certain places who probably shouldn't be there.

"Nobody would condone that because we are customers also. You can't blame the workers -- if a guy is working in a dining room and his hair is too long that is not his fault.

"You blame the management for allowing it to happen.'' "We make no difference whether it is guest workers or Bermudian workers. They are all workers, what goes for Bermudian workers, goes for foreign workers.

"Our workers are a bit incensed. It seems to be saying all the problems are caused by us. It only looks at part of the picture, not the whole picture.

"I am not here knocking management. If there is a problem workers and managers need to sort it out.'' Derrick Burgess