President Mahinda Rajapaksa felicitated 10   veteran trade union leaders who have devoted over 50 years of their life to the cause of the working people at a simple ceremony held at the Presidential Secretariat today (25). Paying tribute to them the President said:" It requires both exceptional ability, remarkable strength of conviction and dedication to have been able to lead the working people for over  50 years."

The trade union leaders that were felicitated were Alavi Moulana, K.A. E. .Britto, James Kariyawasam, .D.M.Jayasinghe, Wimalasiri de Mel, O.A. Ramiah,  S. Siriwardane, .P.L.S. Perera and M.S. Sellasamy.