Contrary to a press report today, the National Union of Telecoms Employees (NUTE) is still mulling a picket in front of the union headed by Zainal Rampak, president of the umbrella body, Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC).

Utusan Malaysia had reported that NUTE president Mohamed Shafie BP Mammal had agreed to cancel the picket planned in front of the Transport Workers Union (TWU) office in Petaling Jaya in a fortnight.

The picket was to protest Zainal's reneging on his promise to hand over the leadership in MTUC to the deputy president, Mohamed Shafie on Jan 1.

Contacted this afternoon, Mohamed Shafie said NUTE was still discussing on whether or not the picket should proceed and when if yes.

Rumours

"At the moment, there is no absolute answer for it and we will announce it when a decision is made," he said.

Mohamed Shafie also refused to answer rumours of the picket being brought forward this Monday from the middle of this month.

"I don't know about it. We are still discussing (it)," he repeated.

Union sources have informed malaysiakini that the picket would be held earlier than scheduled in the light of the aggressive defence mounted by Zainal's camp in backing his decision to hang on to the MTUC presidency until 2004.

Last year, as a condition for no contest from Mohamed Shafie in the congress election, Zainal had said he would serve one-third of his term should he retain the post he has held for 20 years.

However, the union leader who is also a senator has since made an about-turn, citing the request of supporters.

An outraged Mohamed Shafie and his supporters then declared war on Zainal, leading to a press conference on Dec 29 to show the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between him and Zainal on the pact prior to last year's election.

Joint statement

According to Zainal's supporters quoted in the Utusan Malaysia report today, however, the document was merely a "joint statement" for the media, signed by both MTUC leaders and made available to journalists last February.

They claimed that Zainal never signed any MOU with Mohamed Shafie on the leadership transition.

Meanwhile, the report also quoted Cuepecs president N Siva Subramaniam as saying that he had planned for Zainal and Mohamed Shafie to meet next week, possibly Monday, to resolve the conflict.

The Human Resources Ministry, too, is reportedly in touch with the feuding parties.