The unemployed are to be given jobs cleaning up the Railway Trail in the hope that it will encourage more Bermudians to consider future careers in landscaping.The Department of Parks is to provide out-of-work men and women with the horticultural skills they will need to get jobs with the Island’s private landscaping firms.From August 1 up to 18 trainees will spend four to six months maintaining the Railway Trail, learning the skills of hard and soft landscaping and how to care for Bermuda’s flora and fauna.The trainees will also be taught presentation skills, interview skills, time keeping and how to work as a team.Public Works Minister and Deputy Premier Derrick Burgess told the House of Assembly on Friday the new Railway Trail Training Programme would not only help young people to find work but also lead to long-term careers.It comes as landscaping firms say they are struggling to survive because of the Government’s moratorium on foreign workers. At the end of last year Government announced that in order to create “real job opportunities” all landscape gardening positions must be filled by Bermudians. Initial work permits in this area are being denied and workers seeking renewals are having their permits terminated.Mr Burgess, who is responsible for the Department of Parks, said the training scheme was a much-needed public-private partnership as the global economy had impacted Bermuda in “a very tangible way”.He said: “We’ve had a lot of Bermudians who have not wanted to do this type of job.“With this training programme they will receive basic certification, an improved work ethic and a career they can be proud of.”Anyone who is 18 or over will be considered for the new Government training scheme with Mr Burgess saying “training and retraining” was a necessary part of life in today’s economy. All trainees will undergo a background check to ensure they don’t have a criminal record.Opposition Whip Shawn Crockwell said his party supported any programme designed to train Bermudians and get them back into work. He agreed the area of horticulture requires special skills even though some people think “why do I have to submit a resume just to cut grass?”Mr Crockwell said teaching timekeeping and work ethics was crucial as he could tell “a plethora of stories” about Bermudians not pulling their weight at work. He said the reality was that many landscaping firms were “reliant on foreign labour” as they weren’t able to “replace very capable foreign workers with Bermudians”.Mr Crockwell said: “Landscaping is not exempt, it too requires a reliable workforce. Time-keeping is a very serious issue.“Then when you get to work, you have to work. You can’t expect to be on your cell phone for three or four hours of the day then want to pick a fight with your supervisor when he notices you.”The One Bermuda Alliance MP added: “Unfortunately we have a culture where Bermudians think it is their entitlement to work, but working is a privilege, you have to make your employers appreciate you.”Government MP Dale Butler said the new training scheme would help to “beautify Bermuda” and he said he was pleased work ethics were being taught.He said: “It’s obvious Government had to act as the landscape companies were saying ‘where are these Bermudian people?’ There has to be sufficient people available to meet the need.“It’s the whole problem of work ethics that needs to be fixed. Work is not seen as work anymore, it’s seen as socialising. Work is seen as Disney World where you chat [about] all the wonderful things you did at the weekend.”Government MP Dennis Lister said he hoped young people would be encouraged to “appreciate the beauty of the Island” and realise landscaping “isn’t just a job, it’s a career”.Government Estates and Public Information Minister Neletha Butterfield said the Railway Trail was “one of Bermuda’s most favourite places” and she hoped this would encourage more people to use it.United Bermuda Party leader Kim Swan said he agreed with the scheme but it needed to be expanded to “all areas of trades”. He said: “People should be encouraged to learn all trades.”UBP MP and spokesman for education labour and training Charlie Swan said he was “going to throw some cold water” over the training scheme as he questioned whether the trainees would come out with anything that would “make them attractive to employers”.He said: “Rather than an initiative, I’d call it an effort.“Work permits have stopped being given in this area, so these 18 people have to come out of this with something that makes them marketable.“I’m all for training and increasing the skills of the Bermudian workforce but non-Bermudians have to be replaced with people just as good.”Shadow Environment Minister Cole Simons called the training scheme “a pathway to a good job” adding that: “There are careers out there for everyone.”He said Bermudians had “fallen away” from the environment and gardening and needed to be encouraged to get back to it.He welcomed the programme and said it should be broadened to allow others to benefit.PLP MP Darius Tucker said young Bermudians had talent and shouldn’t be allowed to think expatriates could have skills they were unable to obtain.“Most of these landscapers that come to Bermuda come as landscape labourers,” he said. “They are not trained people. They may know how to do certain things but they are not 100 percent trained and certified. So what we must be very careful of is getting to the point where because someone has five years experience working for a particular company, that they are all of that.”OBA MP Donte Hunt praised the initiative but spoke of the need to foster a strong work ethic in Bermudians.As an employer, he said he often hired locals who had poor attendance and bad timekeeping.He said unemployment was sometimes not due to a lack of jobs but a lack of zeal to work.Health Minister Zane DeSilva said some Bermudians fell into the category described by Mr Hunt but many did not. “We have some Bermudian people that are sharp, you know,” he added.