Veteran Trade Union leader and lawyer Bala Tampoe has passed away at the age of 92. He was the General Secretary of the Ceylon Mercantile, Industrial and General Workers Union (CMU) in Sri Lanka.
Born on May 23, 1922 to a prominent family in Jaffna, he was educated at the prestigious Royal College Colombo and gained a BSc degree from the newly established University of Ceylon in 1943 and the University of London in 1944.
Later he studied law at the Colombo Law College and became an advocate, practicing criminal law.
He became a lecturer in Botany and Horticulture in the Department of Agriculture and came into the limelight after his dismissal from public service, for participating in the strike of public servants in 1947. Soon after he joined the CMU.
The CMU was originally built in 1928 as a white-collar union in the mercantile sector. Tampoe served as its general secretary from February 1948 (for 66 years) and participated actively in major negotiations with the government and employers.
Known for his militant challenges to the political decisions of the government of the day, Tampoe led a strike in the Colombo port that escalated into an all-island general strike in 1963.
Beginning with 300 subscription paying members, the CMU expanded to a nation-wide mass organization of almost 30,000 workers comprising manual workers as well as clerical and minor employees.
