White collar union leader Jason Hayward last night held out a 2016 olive branch to Government — and pledged to work with Ministers to reduce the cost of public administration.

Mr Hayward, president of the Bermuda Public Services Union, said that 2015 was “a rough year” for industrial relations.

But he added: “The protection of workers is the union’s priority — however, that will not prevent us from working with the Government.”

Mr Hayward said: “Both sides should commit to more harmonious relations in 2016.”

He added: “The union recognises that wages and salaries are a huge expenditure item for the Government.

“As a result we have worked with the Government to reduce that line item through supporting voluntary early retirement, wage freezes, pay cuts and supported reducing the services through attrition.”

Mr Hayward was speaking after economist Craig Simmons last week warned that attempts to cut the Civil Service to reduce the Island’s billion-dollar-plus debt would spark fierce protests from the unions.

Mr Simmons added that — although Bermuda’s gross domestic product (GDP) had risen for three successive quarters and retail sales had also increased, signalling an end of recession — the working classes continued to struggle to keep their jobs.

Mr Simmons said that debt reduction could not happen without “a restructuring of the Civil Service”.

And he added that the number of Ministries and departments would have to be “reduced, consolidated or eliminated altogether”, while government services would have to be “rebalanced”, with some scaled back and others expanded.

Mr Hayward said: “On paper, the economy does seem to have stabilised, technically bringing an end to the recession. This is supported by the reported quarterly GDP growth.

“However, that does not translate into an end of economic hardship for many and Bermudians will continue to suffer until the number of jobs increase in the economy.”

He added: “The recession caused real hardship to Bermudians. Many remain unemployed, many are underemployed, persons have lost homes, some persons have racked up large amounts of debt and others have left the Island to reside overseas.”

Mr Hayward said that the Government had to look at the services it provides and warned that “across-the-board” job cuts, as opposed to looking at service provision, would not work.

He explained: “The Government needs to take a look at the services it currently provides and determine whether or not they want to continue to provide the public with these services, or whether or not they can produce these services more efficiently.

“That exercise will help the Government determine how much human resources are actually required in the private sector. Just doing across-the-board cuts to all departments is not effective.”

And Mr Hayward said: “If both the unions and the Government are clear on the expectations, maybe we can work on a method that is in the best interests of all.”

He added: “In addition the union would like to see the Government focus on a reasonable revenue generation strategy.”

Michael Dunkley said: “This Government, from day one, has been working to turn what was a dying economy into an economy that works for Bermudians in every area of life.

“The ultimate goal is jobs – jobs that enable Bermudians and their families to get on with their lives.

“It’s a long road to make that happen and we’ve left no stone unturned in the effort — doing whatever is necessary to rebuild tourism through new management and hotel developments, restoring international business confidence, securing the America’s Cup, worker training programmes, micro-loans to small businesses and start-ups, and restoring balance and responsibility to the public purse.”

The Premier added: “Mr Simmons is on the record stating that the recession is over and we agree, but we in Government remain deeply aware of the fact — economic statistics aside — that the recession continues to be a daily reality for many.

“We understand their frustrations and the hardship and we’re going to continue working hard to get things done for them. That’s our goal — returning jobs and economic security to the people of Bermuda in every sphere of life.

We made this point emphatically in November’s Throne Speech when we said the Government would continue to encourage and support economic revival because “the turnaround is not yet complete and because economic recovery does not happen evenly. Where one Bermudian finds a job, others remain behind; where the fall in unemployment from 9 per cent to 7 per cent is good news, it also means many are still jobless.

“Much work remains. The economic challenges facing Bermuda remain deep and concerning.

“High levels of youth unemployment are unacceptable, annual government deficits are unsustainable and public debt is a threat to Bermudians not yet born.”