UNI Sri Lanka Affiliates Council

UNI is Global Trade Union in Service Sector. It was created on January 1, 2000, by members of The Communications International-CI, FIET (the white collar and services global union), the International Graphical Federation-GIF and the Media and Entertainment International-MEI. Founder unions had its origin from the beginning of twentieth century.

UNI Global Union is one, strong Union in skills and service sector in the world. UNI Global Union, based in Nyon, Switzerland, represents more than 20 million workers from over 900 plus trade unions covering 140 countries in the fastest growing sectors in the world – skills and services. A total of 90% of new jobs are expected to be in these sectors in the next decade. UNI has four regional offices in Asia, Europa Africa and Americas which coordinates the regional union activities. UNI represents workers in Cleaning and Security, Commerce, Finance, Gaming, Graphical and Packaging, Hair and Beauty, Information, Communication, Technology and Services Industry (ICTS), Media, Entertainment and Arts, Post and Logistics, Social Insurance, Sport, Temp and Agency workers, Health & Care, and Tourism industries as well as Professionals and Managers.

UNI’s National Liaison council is an important concept which promotes the empowerment of its affiliates in national level. Among others the functions of the council include the coordination of trade union development activities and UNI-APRO activities in the country. Liaison council also facilitates contacts and communications among the affiliates and, is responsible for the collection and dissemination of information on the organizations and on current issues affecting them. In addition, liaison councils also provide its affiliates with the structure and machinery for joint decision making and sharing of resources for the use of information technology and for the development of joint strategies for achieving common goals of affiliates in Sri Lanka. The UNI Sri Lanka Affiliates Council was founded on 6th December 2003.

The liaison council provides various opportunities to strengthen its affiliates and to improve their union skills, joint effort, and solidarity and network capability. The environment created by the presence of liaison councils have enhanced and improved the capacity and the capability of its affiliates to be global players in the age of globalization. UNI National Councils are driven by the responsibility to ensure jobs are decent and workers’ rights are protected, including the right to join a union and collective bargaining in national level.