TEA TRADE UNIONS OF SRI LANKAThere are three major types of tea trade unions or Labor Unions in the Plantation Sector of Sri Lanka. They are: 1. Trade Unions for the manual workers 2. Trade Union for the subordinate, senior subordinate or lower management staff 3. A Society for the Tea Executives and Planters The Tea Trade Unions have a long and often stormy history throughout the time since the first labor union was formed in Ceylon. The majority of the plantation workers came from neighboring India. They were subjected to much hardships without any organized structures to serve or safeguard their rights and privileges whatsoever. Most of the workers belong to the Indian Tamil community and also comprised some Malayalees and Muslims of Indian origin.
THE FIRST EVER STRIKE IN THE PLANTATIONS
A left-oriented tea trade union by the name of All Ceylon Estate Workers Union (ACEWU), came into existence in 1938 during the course of the first recorded strike on the tea estates.
The first strike took place at British owned Annasigala Estate, Kirenpitiya on 13 July 1938, which was caused by termination of three workers who were supporters of the Lanka Samasamaja Party (LSSP) a left-oriented party.
The strike went for six days and ended successfully, after those workers (Mookan, Pichaie and Murugiah) were reinstated and Field Officer was removed from the estate for alleged “anti-worker activities”. The strike had a direct backing from the political leadership of LSSP and ACEWU was formed during the course of the strike with S.A. Wickramasinghe as its president.
In 1939, the organization was reorganized with Dr. N.M. Perera as its president and P.M. Velusamy as its General Secretary. ACEWU and LSSP made inroads into plantation areas and provided militant leadership with hidden revolutionary potentials.
In 1940 a worker by the name of Govindan was shot and killed by the police during the famous strike at Mooloya Estate. The shooting case created a constitutional crisis in the country and shook the plantations with waves of strikes. It culminated in a famous strike at Wewessa in which the workers set up their elected Workers Council and disarmed a police party that entered the estate. The workers later returned the rifles seized to a Senior Police Officer and obtained receipt for the same on the instruction of the Workers Council and the estate superintendent agreed to take instructions from the WC.
However, a split occurred in the tea trade union in 1940 when the so-called Stalinists were expelled from the LSSP on 17 June 1940, followed by the arrest of four LSSP leaders (Dr. N.M. Perera, Dr. Colvin R. de Silva, Philip Gunawardena and Edmond Samarakody) on the 18th June caused a serious set back. In March 1942, the ACEWU was banned dealing a severe blow to its activities. The ban was in effect till the end of the Second World War in 1945.
The ACEWU never recovered from its set back and in 1956 was renamed and registered as Lanka Estate Workers Union (LEWU). Dr. N.M. Perera and Dr. Colvin R. de Silva and Neil de Alwis were some of the LSSP leaders who held the post of president of the union.
EMERGENCE OF CWC
By now the Ceylon Indian Congress Labor Union had emerged as a formidable force in the estate sector.
In the 1920s, a pioneer trade unionist by the name of Natesa Iyer was running a Tamil newspaper “Desa Bakthan”. In the late 1920s Desigar Ramanujam born in South India, came to Ceylon and joined the editorial staff of this newspaper. Ramanujam was an accomplished writer and was inspired by the freedom movement of India through his professional association with South Indian leaders.
Ramanujam became a founder member of CIC. When the Ceylon Indian Congress was registered as a trade union, he was elected the President of its Kandy Branch and subsequently the political Secretary of the Ceylon Workers Congress which was the successor to CIC.
It was through some great commitment and sacrifices of leaders such as the late Peri Sundaram, Ramanujam, Rajalingam, Vythilingam, Vellayan and Velupillai who belonged to the Tamil community and others like H.M. Desai, A. Aziz, G.R. Motha, I.X. Perera and D.M. Vora, a powerful Ceylon Indian Congress (CIC) was established in 1939.
In 1940, the Ceylon Indian Congress (CIC) was formed under the leadership of Peri Sundaram. It was the largest tea trade union in Ceylon with a massive membership of 180,000 mostly Estate Tamil workers.
In the early 1950s the Union later took the name “Ceylon Workers Congress” or CWC by a veteran Indian Tamil leader Saumyamoorthy Thondaman. CWC quickly established itself as one of the most powerful political party and largest trade union in the country.
I vaguely recollect an incident at Hatton in 1956, when there was a huge commotion at a CWC meeting at Dunbar Grounds. As a school-boy I did not understand the incident but it was later understood a faction of CWC had broken away to form the Democratic Workers Congress as a result of leadership rivalries between the president, S. Thondaman and the General Secretary A. Aziz. The former retained control of the CWC until his death.
Thondaman became the most powerful Upcountry Tamil and was dominant in the upcountry politics for nearly four decades. His political party never failed to win in the general elections held throughout the island’s political history in the Nuwara Eliya/ Maskeliya electorates, which covered vast tea plantation areas. Every successive government had to depend on their support to form stable governments in the country, thereby CWC leaders enjoying substantial political clout.
The late S. Thondaman and Peri Sundaram are regarded as elder statesmen for their invaluable contributions to trade unionism, especially to tea trade unions, and politics in this country as well as their service to the Indian Tamil community. Both were Presidents of this great organization and were also elected Members and Ministers in the State Legislature.
For the good or bad, the largest tea trade unions in the plantations underwent many splits resulting in new unions being formed during the past three decades. Most of the tea trade unions are politically with the ruling Government or with the Opposition in the Sri Lanka’s Parliament.
Through several trade union actions, direct and indirect, the plantation workers were able to win numerous wage increases, health benefits and other concessions, even though they were considered ‘too little’ most of the time.
A UNION FOR THE ESTATE STAFF
In the 1920’s the senior subordinate staff of the plantations formed a union by the name of Ceylon Estate Staffs Association. This appears to be the first ever organized trade union in the country. The name was later changed to Ceylon Estate Staffs Union (CESU). The union was able to obtain several benefits for their members through “Collective Agreements” with the tea employers’ organization which was then called the Ceylon Estate Employers’ Federation (CEEF).
CESU was considered a ‘moderate’ trade union, trying to obtain concessions for its members through Collective Agreements, until such time its policies became more militant during the period of leaders like Keerthi Seneviratne in the 1960’s.
PLANTERS ORGANIZE THEIR OWN UNION
The Ceylon Planters’ Society (CPS) was set up in 1936 as the trade union of the planters with Mr. D.E. Hamilton as its first Chairman. During the days of the British rule, it was not easy for any union to organize and survive itself.
CPS too had to be planned in secret, as Planters as paid servants too came under a merciless hire and fire scheme. Naturally, Planters then did not openly like to say they had a ‘union’ as it was considered a dirty word; it is so even up to now.
Some of the most prominent personalities in the CPS were Rodney de Mel, Ranajan Weijeratne and Roger Sommervile. Mr. Ranjan Wijeratne later became the country’s Defence Secretary and died under tragic circumstances.
A SPECIAL REQUEST:
THE AUTHOR OF THIS WEBSITE WOULD BE PLEASED TO RECEIVE ANY HISTORICAL ACCOUNTS OF PLANTATION TRADE UNIONS FROM THOSE CONNECTED WITH ANY OF THEM, WITH PICTURES IF AVAILABLE.
Please send them to: tbkamiss5@yahoo.com
Pics below: Leaders of ACEWU, the pioneer tea trade union of the tea plantations, Dr. N.M. Perera and Dr. Colvin R. de Silva
Tea Trade Unions - Back to PEOPLE BEHIND TEA
1. S. Thondaman
2. Desigar Ramanujan
3. M.S. Sellasamy
Pic below: A. Aziz who was with CWC broke away and formed a new tea trade union named Democratic Workers Congress (DWC).
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