The general secretary of the General Workers' Union, Tony Zarb yesterday appealed to political parties not to make any pre-election promises they cannot keep.

He was speaking during an activity at which the union gave employer organisations a copy of the union's election proposals presented to the political parties.

The union's main proposal is that the government should have a strategic five-year-plan and keep to its target dates and cost estimates.

Mr Zarb said there were many things in the union's plan that required an effort by all three social partners in order to be implemented. All proposals were aimed at seeing the country progress.

Joe Farrugia, representing the Malta Employers Association, George Schembri, from the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, and Kevin Borg, from the Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise, thanked the union for its proposals and said there was a lot of common ground between the union and their organisations.

They pointed out that industrial relations had matured and this should be a message to the political parties.