THE BOOK AND THE AUTHOR

This book deals with conciliation of industrial disputes as practised in Sri Lanka from 1951 onwards. The author emphasises the silent role it played at little cost to the state and attributes same to the the power delegated officers. He canvasses the need to have an overall assessment of conciliation to reinforce the system where necessary and mourns over the poor presentation of statisti- cal information that does not convey a meaningful message. For concilia-

tion to be more potent, the author proposes to have at any given time, a committed band of Labour officers selected through a merit oriented strong recruitment policy.

S.H. Siripala was born to a lower middle class family in a village in the south. He went to Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda, thanks to the free education system, to enter the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya. Upon graduation in 1957, he taught in secondary school for a while and joined the Labour Department as a Labour officer in 1960. He rose to be the Deputy Commissioner of Labour (Labour Standards and Prosecutions) before he retired.

He worked both in Headquarters in Colombo and the various Districts, in several capacities. To him the most rewarding work, because of high job satisfaction, was in Industrial Relations and Participatory Management. That work contributed to manimize industrial disputes. It also convinced him that it was essential to have committed and devoted cadre of Labour Officers of unquestionable integrity. They had to be equipped to handle Labour relations as they evolved in new situations.

In the course of his work in the Department and later in Ministry as Advisor, Siripala was provided with many opportunities to travel to many countries, both East and West. These travels and meetings extended his horizons of knowledge on questions relating to labour relations. He is deeply grateful to the authorities who provided those opportunities. He made ample use of this knowledge in his many contributions to the Labour Gazette, special publications of the Ministry and daily newspapers. He functioned for many years as visiting tecturer in industrial relations at the Institute of workers' Eduction of the University of Colombo. After leaving the public service, Siripala engages himself in Labour related actirities. He has been nominated as a member of five Wages Boards. He is a perma- nent member of the National Salaries and Cadre Commission.