Coleiro may contest No. 2 post at GWU

Tony Coleiro, secretary of the drydocks workers section of the General Workers Union, is being mentioned in union circles as one of the most likely candidates to contest the post of deputy general secretary, vacated by Mario Cutajar last Friday.

Mr Cutajar was elected deputy secretary-general of the union in October 1998 and took office in January 1999.

Sources said that if Mr Coleiro contested, this would pose a problem, especially for general secretary Tony Zarb, who had found him problematic to handle when Mr Coleiro wanted to become an MLP candidate and remain section secretary in breach of union regulations.

The deputy secretary general is elected by delegates at a general conference, held every two years. An extraordinary one would have to be held to fill the post, unless the administration felt it should wait another year, until the next conference is due.

No reasons have been given for Mr Cutajar's resignation, but it is known that he has not been seeing eye to eye with Mr Zarb.

Various union officials knew that he had wanted to resign last April, when Mr Zarb was in Denmark, but he was persuaded to stay on and gave the union's first reaction to the industrial relations bill.

Mr Cutajar's resignation has been seen as a severe blow to the union as he was considered to be one of the unions' best brains. He was also the author of several of the union's official reports, including the latest one, Twemmin, outlining the union's beliefs.

Union sources said there was already considerable concern about what would happen if Mr Coleiro decided to contest the post.

"In the past, he has always pushed the union into turbulent times and then changed his position at the very last minute. The USS La Salle issue was a classic case. He put the union into a quandary by creating an issue when there was none. But when the union council was in favour of the work being carried out, he seconded the union's position.

"He had also created unnecessary turbulence when he wanted to become an MLP candidate against union rules. But he had done that before. He was a staunch supporter of Dom Mintoff but decided to support Alfred Sant when Mintoff lost," union sources said.

Mr Coleiro had already contested the post and lost to Alphonse Meli at the time when Anglu Fenech was secretary general.

He also contested the post in 1998, when Mr Cutajar was elected. Mr Coleiro had then declared he would no longer contest such posts.