PETALING JAYA: A suit filed by four trade unions to direct the Registrar of Societies (RoS) and 18 Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) working committee members to conduct its election in line with its constitution has been put in abeyance pending a decision on the president’s position.
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Lawyer Srividhya Ganapathy, who represented the unions, said she briefed deputy registrar Firdaus Sidqi Sharil Azli on what transpired in the MTUC after the High Court refused an injunction to stop a special delegates conference on Sept 19.
“The deputy registrar has fixed case management on Nov 18 pending a decision on the position of the president,” she told FMT.
All positions were contested and there were decisive winners except for the post of president.
Incumbent president Abdul Halim Mansor of the National Union of Petroleum and Chemical Industries Workers and his challenger Mohd Jafar Abd Majid of the National Union of Telecommunication Employees (NUTE) each obtained 136 votes.
A third challenger, Nor Azlan Yaacob from the Timber Employees Union (TEU) secured 102 votes.
Srividya said she also told Sidqi that the newly elected working committee with the exception of the president held a meeting on Sunday.
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“They will call for a general council meeting on Oct 25 with a view to hold another conference to elect the president,” she said.
In their originating summons, the plaintiffs – National Union of Transport Equipment and Allied Industries Workers, Metal Industry Employees Union, NUTE, and Paper and Paper Product Manufacturing Employees Union – want the RoS to intervene and supervise the election and ensure the working committee acts in accordance with the MTUC constitution.
On Sept 17, High Court judge Mariana Yahya dismissed an injunction application by the four unions to stop the polls pending the outcome of their main suit.
The suit was filed after the then MTUC secretary-general J Solomon issued a circular on Aug 19 to 77 general council members, asking them how many agreed to the holding of the conference.
After complaints, the RoS ordered the MTUC to hold a general council meeting first before holding the conference.
However, this directive was not followed, resulting in the four unions seeking legal redress. -FMT