Features
THE DRAMATIC END – Part 31
CONFESSIONS OF A GLOBAL GYPSY
By Dr. Chandana (Chandi) Jayawardena DPhil
President – Chandi J. Associates Inc. Consulting, Canada
Founder & Administrator – Global Hospitality Forum
chandij@sympatico.ca
A Surprise at the Union AGM
The hotel union of Coral Gardens was hoping to deal with the new Manager, Major Siri Samarakoon more effectively with input from their superiors. The annual general meeting (AGM) was expected to re-establish the strength of the union. A very important chief guest, Mr. Bala Tampoe (Comrade Bala) was attending, A notice came from the hotel union to Major ‘informing’ the management of the details related to their AGM. Major wrote in bold letters across the notice, “Approved by the Manager”, signed the notice and placed it on the union notice board himself.
I was thinking of what would happen after the AGM. At that time, Major appeared in the office dressed in a bright red shirt and a pair of jeans. I was surprised and asked him if he was going out somewhere. “Yes, of course, to the union AGM,” he said in an excited voice. When I asked him, “Are you invited to the AGM?” he said that, “As the Manager of the hotel I am their host and I certainly do not need any invitation to go anywhere in the hotel.” I was baffled, when he said, “Chandana, let’s go and have some fun with these bloody communists.”
Around 100 employees attending the AGM were shocked to see Major and I marching bravely towards their leader just before the meeting commenced. That was the first union meeting I had ever attended. I followed Major and sat right in the front row after shaking hands with Comrade Bala, who looked confused by our surprise appearance. At 4:00 pm sharp, at the exact time the AGM was supposed to commence, the Major went to the podium, took the microphone in his hand, checked the sound and addressed the gathering, uninvited.
The Major stated the importance of commencing such meetings promptly, as busy people like him do not like to waste time. He then compared himself to Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin and Bala Tampoe, as all four were lawyers or legal scholars. After that, Major gave a lengthy and informative lecture to the union on how he admired Karl Marx’s theories and philosophies on economics and socialism. Then he compared communism in USSR, China and Cuba. He argued that unions must embrace concepts that benefit members rather than the concepts that boost the egos of their selfish leaders.
He ended his unsolicited lecture by saying that if anyone at the AGM needs to learn more about socialism, communism or unionism, to make an appointment to consult him. He wished the union all success and left before any questions were posed to him. “Chandana, let’s leave this AGM to do some productive work,” he said while marching away, proudly. Comrade Bala and his loyal followers looked totally baffled.
Russian Roulette – Fire or Promote?
Towards the end of the tourist season in 1977, we had two more managers on our team. Sabinus Fernando had just retired from the National Milk Board as the Personnel Manager. He was an expert in handling tough unions. Neville Fernando was a volunteer Lieutenant of the Army who was previously trained by Major. He looked after security. Although they were on the management team of four, Major designated Sabinus and Neville as General Supervisors I and II. I familiarized both in hotel operations.
One day, Major had a special management meeting with one agenda item – terminating the services of either the President (Edmond) or the Secretary (Kalansooriya) of the hotel union. “Let’s break the union by promoting one leader and sacking the other. Let’s decide which one gets sacked.” Major sought our input, with a sadistic laugh. As there were no clear grounds for dismissal, I voted against such action, but the other three managers agreed to fire the younger and more radical union leader – Kalansooriya. I felt that the whole voting process was choreographed by Major. “What happens to Butler Edmond?” I questioned. “Let’s promote him as the Restaurant Supervisor!” Major concluded.
Major delegated three members of his management team specific tasks to implement his strategy:
= Chandana – Training, developing and promoting Edmond with new uniforms, good increment and benefits.
= Sabinus – Building a special case file for Kalansooriya and continuously provoking him until he makes a major mistake. “Sabinus, if you can provoke Kalanasooriya in such a manner for you to get slapped on the face by him in public, that would be perfect!” Major suggested. He was not joking.
= Neville – Getting Security Guards to check Kalansooriya thoroughly every time he leaves work while further harassing him with frequent questioning.
The very next day, I promoted Edmond and issued general notices to all employees. Edmond was very pleased with his new title and impressive salary increase. He came to our office with a big smile to thank Major and myself. “Sir, should I wear a tie to work?” a highly motivated Edmond asked us. Major did not want to spend any more hotel money for buying ties. Therefore, he told me, “I say Chandana, I see that you have a big collection of ties. Just give this chap a couple of your old ties.” I did so immediately, without asking any questions.
After that even when Edmond was off duty, he travelled home wearing my old ties, as that was a status symbol in his village. Before issuing the letter of promotion to Edmond, Major told him, “Edmond, one thing you need to do before your promotion is confirmed. You must resign from the hotel union.” “No problem, Sir, I will do that now.” Edmond said.
Timely, but Unfair Action
By early April, 1977, on the last day of the tourist season, when the last European tour group left the hotel, the occupancy dropped down to single digits. Major terminated Kalansooriya’s service on that day, as the last tourist coach left the hotel. Major had drafted a long letter with many legal terms. He managed to get the letter of termination issued from the head office and signed by a member of the board. We were expecting a strike, and if that happened, Major was prepared to close the hotel for the off season of six months to focus on maintenance and upgrading projects.
The union delegates wanted to meet with the management to discuss what they termed as: “a revengeful and unfair dismissal”. During that emotional meeting, a few union delegates broke down in tears. Major looked very sorry and spoke softly, “My heart goes to Kalansooriya, but unfortunately my hands are tied as the letter was issued and signed by my superior – the Hotel Company Director from the head office.” The union delegates then asked. “Can’t you speak with the Director and try to convince him to give Kalansooriya a second chance?” Major responded, “Sure, I will ask that when the Director returns to Sri Lanka after his current two-month holiday in England.” That was the end of the story.
After a week, there was no more talk about Kalansooriya among employees. Although, now not a part of the union that he built and led over 10 years, Edmond appeared to be a popular supervisor. Major took a one-month vacation making me the Acting Manager, once again.
Meeting JR
One morning in May, 1977, the kitchen became busy with a last-minute order for a Sri Lankan lunch for 50 persons of a major political party. As the majority of cooks were on their annual leave during the off season, I did most of the cooking. When the group arrived, I realised that it was for then Leader of the Opposition and the Member of the Parliament for Colombo South, where I was registered to vote. The veteran politician, Mr. Junius Richard Jayewardene (JR) was campaigning hard to bring his United National Party (UNP) back to power and become the sixth and the oldest person to become the Prime Minister of Ceylon/Sri Lanka. At age 70, he appeared to have a lot of energy to do three rallies a day during a three month-long campaign.
When JR arrived at the hotel, his 50 close supporters expected him to have lunch with them in the restaurant, but he had a different idea. When I greeted JR on his arrival at the entrance of the hotel, he wanted to meet with the Hotel Manager. I told him that I was acting for the Manager who was on vacation. JR said, “I thought that you are the Chef.” “Yes, Sir. I am. Do you need anything apart from lunch?” I inquired.
JR wanted a room and all newspapers of the day. I knew that JR had given strict instructions to his followers to boycott all newspapers published by the Lake House Group which had been taken over by the government of Sirima Bandaranaike. Therefore, I quickly asked, “Except the Daily News and Dinamina?” “I need to read all news papers including those two prior to my next rally this afternoon.” He was very clear. I ushered him to his room and arranged for his lunch to be served there. Then, while I was leaving his room, JR requested, “Can you stay and chat with me?”
JR had a quick wash and sat for lunch by himself while glancing through the headlines of the Daily News. I kept standing for over an hour chatting with JR. He sounded optimistic of a landslide victory during the general election scheduled for July 21, 1977. As the voters of Ceylon/Sri Lanka gave the victory to the main opposition party at all five general elections held after 1952, it was not a difficult prediction. Overstaying their term by two additional years by the government of Sirima Bandaranaike, motivated the voters to opt for a change. As arguably the father of modern-day tourism, JR was happy that I was a graduate of the Ceylon Hotel School. He was also pleased that I was from Colombo South and his namesake.
In the midst of our chat about various topics, including tourism, sea erosion, supply chain challenges stemming from the closed economic policy, frustrations of the local population; JR asked me, “Didn’t we meet at Sirikotha (UNP head office) some years back?” I said, “Yes, soon after your party suffered a big loss at the general elections in 1970.”
In the late 1960s, I also became a big fan of Pierre Trudeau. I was fascinated how he rapidly rose to the position of the Prime Minister of Canada only after a short two and half years as a member of the parliament. I was delighted when Pierre Trudeau visited Ceylon to open the Colombo airport re-built and expanded with generous funding from Canada. With hundreds of other school children, I stood in line under the hot sun along the Galle Road for hours holding a Canadian flag to cheer this charismatic leader.
Three people – my father, and two politically-active classmates of mine at Grade 11 (Imthiaz Bakeer Markar and Sarath Kongahage – both who became lawyers and leading politicians in later years) encouraged me to get involved in politics. When I was 16 years of age Imthiaz took me and a few other students of Ananda College to meet the newly elected leader of the UNP – JR, who wanted to recruit young members to his political party, which he was re-uilding then, with the assistance of R. Premadasa as his right-hand man.
“How come you did not join the UNP in 1970 and get into politics? You would have done well,” JR said. I told him that owing to undemocratic practices by all political parties in Sri Lanka, I lost interest in that career option. However, he was happy that I was focused on a long career in tourism and hospitality, which he believed would be the main industry in Sri Lanka in years to come.
After he finished his lunch JR thanked me and said that he will now rest. “At my age, I realised that I am more productive if I break my long days into two with a short cat nap in between” he said.
Hosting JR, Again
Over the next 12 years, I hosted JR a few times at hotel functions during his two terms as the first Executive President of Sri Lanka. My last meeting with JR was in 1993, when I conducted a quick tour of the upgraded historic wing of the Mount Lavinia Hotel at his request. By then he had retired from politics and I was planning to leave Sri Lanka to re-commence my international career.
During that last meeting JR told me how as a young man he and his buddies partied at the Little Hut Night Club of the Mount Lavinia Hotel. “Your Excellency, why don’t you bring all your good friends and have a night out at the Little Hut. Pick any day and I will make all arrangements including a live band to play all your favourite songs all night long” I offered. JR smiled, thought about it, looked at his wife, and then said, “Thank you very much. Let Elina and I think about it. The challenge is that most of my former buddies have now passed away.” He was 87 years of age then, but still had that quick wit. Mr. J. R. Jayewardene was the first of 35 heads of state or government I hosted during my career as an international hotelier.
Socialism Rejected
As predicted by JR the election results on July 21, 1977 was a landslide victory for the UNP, which won 140 of the 168 seats in the National State Assembly. Controlling over 83% of seats, JR was able to initiate several amendments to the constitution and become far more powerful than all his five predecessors of the independent Ceylon/Sri Lanka. The leftist parties which controlled the trade unions lost all 19 seats they had held previously. Major took great joy in announcing to his small management team that the era of the communist unions in Sri Lanka had just ended! “Let’s bring the number of members in the Coral Gardens Hotel union to zero within a month,” said Major expanding his new vision.