The general secretary of the Union Haddiema Maghqudin, Gejtu Vella, said yesterday no trade union could ever guarantee that no jobs would be lost in the public sector simply because such guarantees were not possible.

The only guarantee against job losses, he said, lay in training workers to be able to cope with future challenges and in the creation of the right economic environment that attracted investment.

Mr Vella was referring to job guarantees for employees in privatised government corporations being sought by the General Workers' Union. He was speaking prior to a meeting with the Malta Employers' Association during which the union and the association assessed the situation with regard to the economy and employment and prospects for the future.

The meeting was requested by the UHM.

In his introduction, MEA president Arthur Muscat said he disagreed with the bleak picture painted by economist Edward Scicluna about the economic and employment situation in the country. He said there were some sectors going through a difficult period but others that were not.

Malta was not among the countries that had the highest unemployment rates, he said, adding that the island was in transition with jobs being lost in certain sectors but being created elsewhere.

"A sector which was finding it extremely difficult to find workers was the building industry," he said.

Mr Muscat said the situation is either painted white or black for political reasons but he was sure people realised that the situation was somewhere in the middle.

He said the MEA would like to see more of a commitment by the unions to safeguard existing jobs and for the creation of more work opportunities.

Mr Vella referred to the failure of an agreement on a social pact and denied the unions were to blame. He suggested that the debate on the pact should continue and said the UHM would be willing to discuss the matter once again.

He referred to the privatisation of Sea Malta and the controversy over whether the company made a profit or a loss in the past financial year. Such things sent messages that dented credibility, he said.

"We simply cannot afford to have a situation where the same accounts would be read in one way by someone and differently by others. Let's stop heeding conflicting messages about the economy given by the politicians and hear what the economists have to say," he said.