Work on Sundays and public holidays should be compensated with double and triple pay respectively, the GWU is proposing.

The call is made in its Budget 2018 proposals unveiled this afternoon.

Union general secretary Josef Bugeja said the measure would apply to all workers.

"Many in the catering industry and those employed with contractors are simply paid the regular hourly rate on Sundays and public holidays and this is unfair," he said.

This measure, he added, was aimed at targeting precarious employment.

Mr Bugeja said fighting precarious employment was an ongoing battle and the union wanted the principle equal pay for equal work to be introduced in the private sector.

The GWU wants the government to implement immediately the public holidays measure, which was an electoral pledge.

Mr Bugeja said the union was open to the option that public holidays falling on a weekend be banked but said this was not always possible for all workplaces.

The GWU is proposing the introduction of special transgender leave for people undergoing sex change treatment.

The budget proposals cover various other sectors, including pensions and housing.

Mr Bugeja said rent control would have to be a measure of last resort when asked whether the union agreed with the government's free market approach.

"There are various measures that can be taken such as rent subsidies and helping young people with the initial finance for buying their home but more has to be done," he said, adding the bottom line was that everyone should have a decent house to live in.