MTUC to see at three-cornered fight secretary-general post.

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) will see a three-cornered contest for the powerful secretary-general's post, at its delegates congress next week.

Incumbent N. Gopal Kishnam will be challenged by National Union of Banks Employees secretary general J. Solomon and Amanah Ikhtiar's executive secretary Mohd Dauzkaply Nor.

The contest for the president's post will see a showdown between acting President Abdullah Sani Abdul Hamid, who is the PKR's Kuala Langat Member of Parliament, Abdul Halim Mansor, who is a former MTUC secretary general and Zainal Ismail who is vice president in the Perak Water Board Union.

Gopal said the contest will be on Wednesday after the triennial delegates conference, which will held for two days starting Tuesday.

He expressed confidence that he had the numbers to retain the position.

Gopal said so far 570 delegates have registered for the conference but how many will turn up is not known.

The supreme body of MTUC is the triennial delegates conference and affiliated unions send between 1 to 42 delegates to the conference depending on their membership.

The conference elects the principal officials and they are the president, deputy president, secretary general, deputy secretary general, finance secretary, deputy finance secretary and 11 vice Presidents (six elected vice-presidents, three representing public sector unions and three representing statutory bodies).

Former secretary general Rajasekaran said one of the main reasons for the contest is because the delegates may not be happy with the present leadership line-up.

"There has always been a challenge because the other side believe that they can do a better job than the present group," he said.

An MTUC source said Mohd Dauzkaply has thrown his hat into the ring to hurt Solomon's chances of winning after a falling out in Nube.

The source said Mohd Dauzkaply was formerly an official with Nube and that he (Mohd Dauzkaply) believes that he has a good chance of winning.

source:::http://www.thesundaily.my