Peri Sundaram:

A workers' champion

July 23, 2006 marked the 116th birth anniversary of a great son of the upcountry Tamil community Peri Sundaram. Sundaram has several unique records. Commencing his education in an estate school, where the policy at the time was described as, " a little too much education and unaccustomed luxury than necessary would unfit the children for their calling or indeed for anything", he got admission to Trinity College Kandy later to S. Thomas' Mt. Lavinia and then to Ceylon Law College.

He proved his mettle by going overseas and obtained the Master of Arts and the Bachelor of Laws Degree in the University of Cambridge in United Kingdom. He showed his prowess as an orator and was elected President of the Cambridge Indian Majlis and twice elected Committee Member of the Cambridge Union Society.

He was called to the Bar in England in 1916. Thereafter he returned and practised as an Advocate of the Supreme Court of Ceylon. Sundaram was an outstanding lecturer at the Ceylon Law College, acting Principal and examiner in Law to the Ceylon Civil Service.

He threw himself into the movement for political reform and national independence, was a founder member of the Ceylon National Congress formed in 1919, with the avowed objective of getting independence. Sundaram has a many qualifications to his credit and so also a number of first, which are too many enumerate. Suffice it would be to state that he was elected to the first State Council of Ceylon in 1931 to the Hatton electorate uncontested and served as the first Minister of Labour Industry and Commerce from 1931 to 1936. Subsequently for many years he was a Senator and was also Deputy President of the Senate.

The responsibility thrust on Sundaram was enormous, but his intellectual capacity and determination were equal to the tasks he was called upon to do. He recognised that it was in the national interest to strengthen links with Ceylon's close neighbour India. In 1932 he led the Ceylon Government trade delegation to India.

The Labour portfolio presented Sundaram with the greatest challenge of his career. There was an abundant supply of cheap 'captive' labour to work in the plantations, maintain roads, railways and the port of Colombo to transport and ship the cash crops which was the order of the day. The question of workers' rights did not figure at all in colonial administration.

The files of the Department of Labour will reveal Sundaram's professionalism, authority and knowledge of the subject. He brought about radical legislative proposals overcoming opposition with his skill and authority as a legislator par excellence. Some of the landmarks to his untiring efforts are the Trade Union Ordinance, the workmen's Compensation Ordinance and the Minimum Wages Ordinance, which embody the basic rights of workers.

These are a lasting tribute to the pioneering efforts of Sundaram to free the workers from their bondage and enjoy social justice. He was also responsible for the appointment of a Commission which led to the establishment of the first National Bank viz. the Bank of Ceylon. His record of service clearly illustrates a lifetime of dedicated service to the nation and the people of the country.

In 1919 he formed the first labour union in the country - The Workers' Welfare League - of which he was the founding Secretary. He also founded and became the first Secretary of the Ceylon Workers' Federation. He can justifiably be regarded as the father of the Trade Union movement in this country.

Sundaram was mainly responsible as a co-founder in inaugurating the Ceylon Indian Congress (CIC) in 1939, a merger of over 25 Indian community organisations in Ceylon, the forerunner to the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) to which he was elected President.

This came about after Pandit Nehru's visit. Soon thereafter in 1940 the Ceylon Indian Congress Labour Union (CICLU) was formed and Sundaram was elected the first President of the CICLU with 180,000 members, the largest trade union in the country.

In 1952 he was elected President of the CICLU and the CWC. The Government of Sri Lanka issued a special postage stamp in honour of the Patriot, freedom fighter and workers champion at his Centenary Celebration in 1990. Sundaram passed away on February 4, (Independence Day) 1957.

S. Thambyrajah