The United Corporations and Mercantile Union (UCMU) is a

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

which brings together workers in the public sector. The UCMU was founded in 1968. Dr

N.M. Perera Nanayakkarapathirage Martin Perera, commonly known as Dr. N. M. Perera ( Sinhala එන්.එම්.පෙරේරා ; 6 June 1904 – 14 August 1979), was one of the leaders of the Sri Lankan Trotskyist Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP). He ...

became its President and

Anil Moonesinghe Anil Moonesinghe (15 February 1927 – 8 December 2002) was a Sri Lankan Trotskyist revolutionary politician and trade unionist. He became a member of parliament, a Cabinet Minister of Transport in 1964, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament from 199 ...

became its General Secretary. Moonesinghe travelled the country from factory to factory building up a union of several tens of thousands of members. One of his lieutenants in this task was

Vasudeva Nanayakkara Vasudeva Nanayakkara ( si, වාසුදේව නානායක්කාර) (born 3 January 1939) is a Sri Lankan left-wing politician, Member of Parliament and a former presidential candidate. Early life Born to a wealthy business fami ...

, who became an MP in 1970. At the 1970 general election, the UCMU also sponsored the candidature of the Chairman of its Vidyodaya University branch,

Mahinda Rajapaksa Mahinda Rajapaksa ( si, මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ, ta, மஹிந்த ராஜபக்ஷ; born Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa; 18 November 1945) is a Sri Lankan politician. He served as the President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to ...

who was later to become

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

and then

President of Sri Lanka The President of Sri Lanka ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජනාධිපති ''Śrī Laṃkā Janādhipathi''; ta, இலங்கை சனாதிபதி ''Ilankai janātipati'') is the head of state and head of government of t ...

. In 1970, when Anil Moonesinghe went to the

Ceylon Transport Board The Sri Lanka Transport Board (Sinhala language, Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා ගමනාගමන මණ්ඩලය ''Shri Lanka Gamanāgamana Mandalaya'')(formerly: Ceylon Transport Board, CTB) is a bus service provider in Sri Lanka. ...

as Chairman, he was succeeded as General Secretary by

Percy Wickremasekera Percy Wickremasekera is Sri Lankan lawyer, politician and trade unionist. He was the General Secretary of the United Corporations and Mercantile Union and a member of the Politburo of the LSSP. Educated at the Royal College, Colombo and at the Col ...

. After the death of Dr N.M. Perera in 1979, Anil Moonesinghe became President.

See also