Angry union bosses vowed to "give Government war" and called for the whole of Cabinet to resign over the outsourcing of Bermudian jobs.

Ed Ball and Armell Thomas said a claim that Bermudians kicked out of the New York tourism office were finding jobs with US firm Sales Focus was merely spin from the Premier's Press Secretary Glenn Jones — and insisted the true redundancies figure remains up to 20.

Meanwhile long-serving staff in New York have hit back at allegations that Premier Ewart Brown is simply pulling the plug on their "holiday at the taxpayers' expense" by replacing them with staff from Sales Focus.

They insist they abide by strict rules and guidelines set out by Government and all expenses are submitted on a monthly basis to the Accountant General's office.

Speaking in a press conference at Bermuda Public Services Union's headquarters, president Mr. Thomas said: "Demonstrations have been going on for some time. What is the Government looking for from us? If it's war, I will give them war. It's going to be really nasty. Enough is enough."

Premier and Tourism Minister Dr. Brown has repeatedly come under fire from unions in recent weeks, culminating in a march on Parliament involving Police officers, teachers and other workers in June.

Mr. Thomas said the possibility of more protests was down to the membership and warned: "The mood is very high. It's not going to be just more protests. "

"It's going to be things getting a lot worse."

Attacking the silence on the subject from Dr. Brown's Cabinet members, Mr. Thomas said: "Our main goal is to save jobs. I'm very disappointed to hear some of my colleagues at Cabinet. At this point the whole Cabinet should resign. No one's speaking up."

Describing the situation as "sickening and heartbreaking", Mr. Thomas questioned who was next, saying it could be anyone from a list of names from Dockyard to St. George's.

He said he cut short his holiday in Turks and Caicos to help deal with the latest news, adding that the only difference between the two countries was that Bermuda has unions.

In a rallying call to all Bermudians, he added: "Join with us in this fight to save our jobs as your true and dedicated ambassadors for Bermuda."

New York staff were given five weeks' notice of their redundancies last week after Cabinet agreed to outsource sales to US firm Sales Focus. Ironically, their American replacements will be sent to Bermuda for training.

Workers say this has left them little time to find new jobs, homes and schools for their children on the Island, while many have questioned how Americans can sell Bermuda better than Bermudians with a combined 200 years' experience with the Department of Tourism.

Following several days of anger over the move, Mr. Jones issued a statement on Wednesday night saying 17 out of its 25 posts would be retained. Of the other eight, Mr. Jones said some had applied for jobs, interviews had been conducted and offers made.

And a statement emailed to news media last night by Mr. Jones reiterated this claim about the retention rate and said the New York staff would have a meeting on Monday with Kenneth Dill, Head of the Civil Service, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism and Transport Cherie Whitter and Acting Director of Tourism Ian MacIntyre.

Adding that: "It remains the dedicated goal of the Ministry to provide assistance for those seeking jobs with the new sales firm.

"Additionally, the Ministry remains committed to offering its Bermudian staff alternative job opportunities within the Civil Service."

However, yesterday Mr. Thomas said he understood the number of people facing redundancy in New York was in fact up to 20. And Mr. Ball said only three had the green cards which would make them eligible for jobs in America.

This week the Bermuda Sun reported an annonymous top-ranking former civil servant saying staff at the New York Tourism office were abusing Government credit cards and wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars on unnecessary penthouse offices in a "Wild Wild West" culture.

One staff member told The Royal Gazette of the office's response to the claims:"We were absolutely outraged. It's slandering and untrue.

"People work as hard as their fellow Bermudians and this is not the Wild Wild West. This is a professional group of individuals who come to work on a daily basis and are accountable for their work."

Mr. Thomas said yesterday: "Contrary to any recent reports, we are in no way living lavish lifestyles or misappropriating public funds. We are held to strict rules and guidelines as set out in Government's financial instructions."

Auditor General Larry Dennis said he was unaware of the claims but would look into it. He said the internal audit team had already visited the New York office.

"They didn't find any improper spending but found a system totally missing any controls which would catch any improper spending," said Mr. Dennis.