Sunday Times 2
An excellent trade unionist, on whom we could bank on
For thousands of us, Gamini’s friends, the news of his untimely death was shocking and unbearable. He took part in the historic 1972 bank strike when he was still a probationer at Bank of Ceylon and emerged as a budding leader in the then battered Ceylon Bank Employees Union. He rose to prominence within the union during the 1980s and had remained a formidable trade union force ever since until his death.
In his career as a unionist, he was wise enough to draw inspiration from legendary leaders like De Mel, Sivasubramanium, Oscar Pereira, Basil Noir and Asoka Perera of the orthodox school on the one hand and bold enough to be the voice of the reformists on the other. He walked the tight rope between the two generations of union activists without vacillating in allegiance to the cause of bank employees. This he did with commendable skill characterised by bravery, tact and nicety so much so that he was able to stay afloat through the changing fortunes of the successive governments and CBEU power struggles.
He was a gifted speaker and his clever use of Sinhala idiom and sharp wit was often untranslatable into English. He challenged the bank managements and held demonstrations against them. However he had the tact to keep the rapport with those who matter at the highest levels so much so that as time passed by, they found Gamini to be an amiable person with whom they could sit together and iron out irritable issues in a mutually rewarding manner not necessarily privately — but before they are crystallised into uncompromising demands. Thanks to Gamini, the state banking sector in general and the Bank of Ceylon in particular may have saved thousands of millions of rupees which would have otherwise been wasted in combating agitations and unquantifiable losses of employee productivity.
On the heels of his retirement from the BoC, he was invited in 2010 to overlook the affairs of the Sussex College Network and the Agro Development and Credit Company troubled by the “Ceylinco fiasco”. True to his upbringing as a trade unionist, Gamini had been concerned not so much about physical assets of these Ceylinco-run entities but particularly about how to secure the employment of more than 1,000 employees and the destiny of more than 6,000 innocent children at Sussex and nearly 100 employees and a large number of recipients of micro credit. As a trade unionist he had a great sense of accomplishment being a part of a process that helped retain the jobs of employees of these threatened institutions. It is a sad irony of fate that he had to breathe his last while at work at Sussex.
Personally, Gamini was a good friend bankable for a help he would pull all his weight to fulfil. At his home none felt unwelcome and in his truly lovable family he found Padmini to be his perfect partner. He took enormous satisfaction seeing his two children Inoka and Hasitha excel in their chosen professions.
He loved social service and had busy evenings and weekends with Lions’ projects and EAP Group’s Jana Sarana Foundation and the Punarjeewa Programme — organisations that benefitted immensely by his presence. His loss is irreparable but his unseen presence would no doubt continue to inspire us.
May his journey in Samsara be smooth and free of jerks until he attains the supreme bliss of Nirvana.
-Ubayawansa Warnakulasooriya