About NTUF President, General Secretary of LJEWU

K. Velayudam has been associated with the Trade Union Movement in Sri Lanka for the last 40 years since  1972. He started his trade union carrier as a grassroots level organizer of the Lanka Jathika Estate workers union, which represent the tea, rubber and allied plantation sector workers.
He had performed in different positions in the Union. He was appointed as the Director Workers Education of the union in  1982 and continued to be in this position till 2002. During this period he had conducted many grassroot level, district, regional and national level worker educational programme on many different topics of Union priorities. Velayudam was elected  General Secretary of the LJEWU in 2003 at the 23rd Delegate Convention

Velayudam was elected  President of the National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) in the second Congress in Rajagiriya in Colombo in October, 2011. Prior to this he was elected to the position of Secretary General in 2005 and the Working Committee has elected him  the position of Interim President of the NTUF in 2008.

He was born in 1950 in a tea plantation namely Kirklees Estate, in Udapussellawa, in Sri Lanka  into a large family of 11. His grandfather and farther  are among those who, facilitated to bring Indian workers to Sri Lanka to work in the tea plantations.

Studied at Uva college Badulla  up to GCE (A/L) and started his carrier as a Journalist and then as a Teacher in a private school and started his carrier as Trade Unionist .

Velayudam is a Diploma Holder in Industrial Relations: Curriculum Development for workers Education;  Preparation of Adio-Vedio Aids. He is a Participatory Trainer and Human Rights activits.

He also functions as the Chairman of the POWER Foundation (NGO) and is a member of the National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC), Director of the  Plantation Human Development Trust,  Vice President of the United National Party, member of the Uva Provincial Council and Ex- member of the Parliament.

A member of the General Council of the International Trade Union Confederation – Asia Pacific (ITUC – AP). He also serves as a member of the ILO – HIV Project Committee;  Board member of the Project Advisory Committee of Migrant Workers of the Ministry of foreign Employment and welfare;  Member of the Project Advisory Committee on Green Job.

He is involved in national level collective bargaining negotiations and Labour Standards issues, especially plantation collective agreement issues. He also regularly participates as a Worker Advisor at the ILC meetings and other Regional , International and  Global forums..

Contact Me:

No. 60, Bandaranayakepura,
Sri Jayawardenapura Mawatha Welikada, Rajagiriya, Sri Lanka

Tel:   +94 11 2885599

          +94 11 2862262

          +94 11 2872790