The GWU is proposing that government contracts should be awarded only to companies whose workers are covered by a collective agreement, union General Secretary Tony Zarb said today.

He said the proposal is being made in order to ensure that workers are not exploited. Indeed, he said, calls for tender for government contracts should include safeguards for workers' conditions.

Speaking in the last of four meetings on proposals to the political parties, Mr Zarb said his union is also proposing that the industrial relations law should apply also to civil servants, removing the distinction between private and public sector workers in areas such as the industrial tribunal.

Mr Zarb said former dockyard workers who have for years been working alongside government workers through IPSL should be covered by the collective agreement of the government workers.

He said the union was against the privatisation of entities which were essential for the country. It was also against the government contracting its services to private companies. Workers working in government departments but employed by private contractors should instead be engaged by the government, in order to stop their exploitation.