Andrew Mizzi, Cory Greenland target GWU leadership

A campaign team pushing forward Andrew Mizzi and Cory Greenland for the General Workers Union leadership has been informally formed, MaltaToday has learnt.

The resignation of Michael Parnis from GWU deputy secretary-general last week set the ball rolling for leadership hopefuls, with long-serving secretary-general Tony Zarb to follow suit next year.

Sources told MaltaToday that Mizzi and Greenland will not contest each other, and that one will contest for Zarb's role and the other as his deputy.

"It depends on the course that the GWU would like to take. Andrew Mizzi is considered as a militant face while Cory Greenland is more academic. Regardless of who takes the leadership, they will be a perfect combination taking forward the union," an informed source told MaltaToday.

Another activist backing the Mizzi-Greenland alliance described them as a "dream ticket" for the union, and said that wide consensus exists between activists on their candidature. "Their close political affiliation with the Labour Party also gives them a boost," he said.

While neither of the contenders were available for comment yesterday, MaltaToday is informed that Andrew Mizzi is interested in the main role, while Cory Greenland will be his sidekick.

However, the interested parties have still not made their mind whether to contest the election for Parnis's vacant seat, which will take place imminently.

It seems that both candidates are waiting for the first council meeting in January to see if the union's current leadership brings forward the election for a secretary-general designate, which was originally planned for October 2014. In that scenario, the leadership issue of the post-Tony Zarb era would be put to place for the coming years.

In the past years, Andrew Mizzi served as secretary of the GWU's Technology, Electronics and Communications Section. On the other hand, Cory Greenland is the section secretary for Professionals, Finance and Services.

The GWU will embrace a new leadership for the first time since 1999, when Tony Zarb took office and was uninterruptedly re-elected secretary general ever since.

Last August, Zarb announced that the 2013 union's National Congress would be his last as secretary-general. Zarb, 59, had said that he would step down upon reaching retirement age in 2015.

His proposal to elect a secretary-general designate in October 2014 was welcomed unanimously by the members.