Above: Trinidad Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Trinidad and Tobago President George Maxwell Richards will appoint James Lambert as a new government senator to replace the departed David Abdulah.

The move was announced by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s office Wednesday.

Abdulah, the leader of the Movement for Social Justice, withdrew from the country’s coalition government last week.

Lambert, who is the president general of the National Union of Government and Federated Workers Trade Union, is a longtime trade unionist.

He formerly served in the senate in 2001 and was a general election candidate for the Diego Martin West constituency in 2002. (That has been the constituency of current Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley (PNM) since 2001).

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar called Lambert an “appropriate voice of the trade union movement and the workers of our nation” in a statement.

Her office said she expressed “deep confidence that he is a strong voice that will seek the real interest and upliftment of workers.”

Abdulah is also a longtime trade unionist. Earlier this year, he announced he would not seek reelection as president of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions and Non-Governmental Organizations, citing his party as a priority.