Jyoti Communication: Abdulah quits Fitun to focus on MSJ

Monday, April 23, 2012

Abdulah quits Fitun to focus on MSJ

David Abdulah quit Sunday as president of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions and Non-Governmental Organisations (Fitun).

The leader of the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) announced his decision at Fitun's conference of delegates at the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) headquarters in San Fernando.

Abdulah told delegates he won't be offering himself for re-election because it would be unfair for him to lead both the MSJ and Fitun. He said his party must get preference.

"Both will lose out if I am carrying that responsibility and therefore I think my principal responsibility right now is that of political leader of MSJ," he said. For now he advised that he will continue to hold the post of general secretary of OWTU. He is also keeping his job as a government Senator.

Abdulah said he is happy to have guided Fitun to make it a household name in Trinidad and Tobago.

"I think now is a very appropriate time for me to relinquish the presidency of Fitun," he said, adding that he wants to focus on nurturing the MSJ.

“Fitun played a crucial role in bringing consciousness to the level where it is where no government is safe from mass criticism and mass protest and no government is safe if they go against the interest of the people and I think what we did over the years contributed immensely to that,” Abdulah declared.

He credited Fitun with the fall of the PNM administration, saying former Prime Minister Patrick Manning admitted that “it was the trade union mobilisation that forced him to call the election early in 2010.”

Abdulah also seized the opportunity to calls from trade unionists for the formation of a labour party. "I hear my colleagues speaking about the workers’ party but it is not an abstraction," he said, adding that the Movement for Social Justice is the labour party.

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