The police, soldiers, members of the Civil Protection Department and disciplinary forces will be given the right to join a union of their choice as was done in all other European countries, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said this evening.

Speaking during a special session of the union's national council on the its proposals to political parties, Dr Muscat said these would, obviously, not have the right to strike but this would be a new chapter in industrial relations in Malta.

Dr Muscat said that, in Malta, there were responsible trade unions who only took industrial action as a last resort and Labour hoped to work hand in hand with these unions in future. He noted that Labour had found a lot of common ground in the GWU’s proposals, especially on the electricity and water tariffs.

The party’s flagship proposals were that for the environment, jobs, and clean energy.

Another proposal was on precarious employment. This had been put forward by the GWU and Caritas. The proposal was that companies which use precarious employment practices would not be eligible for public contracts.

Dr Muscat also spoke on the Industrial Projects and Services Limited, which was set up to absorb workers who were employed with several government entities. These workers, he said, had their salaries frozen for a long time and Labour wanted to draw up a collective agreement specifically for these workers so that their situation would improve.