Honest to a fault, happy with little

B.H. Barathi Peiris

It was with sorrow that I came to know of the passing away of my friend and collegue Barathi Peiris on May 18, 2007. My profound regret is that I could not pay my last respects to this selfless, sincere and cultured trade unionist. The fact is that I missed his obituary.

Barathi was from Keselwatta, Panadura and joined the Local Government Clerical Service a few years after the inception of the unified Local Govt. Service. He came on transfer to the Colombo Municipal Council in the early 1970s and that is where I first met him.

He was best known and remembered by the Local Govt. officers of that era for almost single-handedly setting up a new union to represent the clerical officers in the unified service displaying a degree of boldness and self-confidence in taking a different path from the beaten track.

Their burning issue was for a potent force to get the Appointing Authority to re-think their attitude towards a service, literally more closer to the public than the public service itself and still being marginalized and refused the recognition of their true worth as public servants.

Here, Barathi, who was seen as one holding left of centre liberal views and leanings towards the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, was an instant attraction. It is obvious that what inspired him to form a new union and name it the “Sri Lanka Local Govt. Clerical Service Union” was his closeness to the SLFP.

He was contented with being the General Secretary of this Union and let another be voted into the chair of Presidency. The new union contributed to take forward the service to what it is today--a full fledged wing of the Public Service proper. It is really amazing that Barathi handled the workload of General Secretary of the Union and still was cheerful and smiling all the time. So dedicated and devoted was he to union work, it was well into the night when he returned home daily.

In retirement he organized a Union of Pensioners encompassing retired public officers including those of the armed services and was its General Secretary. Honest to a fault, contented with little, he never exploited his closeness to the SLFP hierarchy to manipulate for himself promotions or favours.

Farewell dear friend, and may your passage through Samsara be happy and smooth and may you attain the Bliss of Nirvana.

By U. Wirasinha.