About the Protect Union

“Protect”, is a registered trade union. It is functioning as an umbrella organisation, carrying out interventions and activities among the formal workers as well as among the informal workers. With regard to the informal sector workers our main objectives are to guarantee decent working conditions for informal sector workers, to provide social security benefits to those workers and to make welfare programs available to them. As a very important step in achieving above, we have been carrying out lobbying activities among legislators and government institutions and campaigns to get ILO C189 and ILO C190 ratified by Si Lanka and to make those guidelines implemented in Sri Lanka.

Brief history

Establishment in 2016 as a registered trade union. Initial goals were to act as an umbrella organisation to already active trade unions and to establish new branches in ununionised sectors including informal workers, which was completely not unionised at that time. From the inception union started working among domestic workers. In 2020 we have started organising other Informal Sector workers such as lottery salesmen, tailors, workers in textile shops and shops without any good working conditions, workers working in bakeries and restaurants etc.

Goals

● Organizing and unionising formal and informal sector workers in Sri Lanka.

● Working in solidarity with national and international organisations in all campaigns and programs which may promote legislations / environment favorable to the interests of the working people or may weaken the conditions for exploitation of workers.

● Transforming the role of the union from an organization that focuses on a member’s rights and privileges to one that gives workers a say in all the decisions that affect our working lives – from capital invest

Our Vision

Our Vision is to be the leading trade union in Sri Lanka, which will unite all categories of workers in the country and empower them and their families in their struggle for just and humane conditions of work and improved quality of their lives. We will make the voices of those working families heard nationally and internationally.

Mission

Our mission is to improve the lives of workers and their working families, to bring economic justice to the workplace and socio-economic and political justice to the society, which will guarantee the ecological balance along with economic development.

We will educate, train, and develop our members as the next generation of trade union leaders and organisers and will empower them to standup on all the issues that affect our lives. We will promote the physical, psychological, moral, cultural, political, and economic well-being of our members and build alliances, partnerships, solidarity movements with other national and international trade unions and social partners.

Our objectives

To improve the economic situation of workers by securing better wages for them.
To secure for workers better working conditions.
To ensure stable employment for workers and resist any attempt to reduce employment opportunities.
To secure for workers the retirement benefits such as Pension Schemes, Employees’ Provident Fund, Employees’ Trust Fund, Gratuity Payment Schemes and other benefits.
To secure for the workers better safety and health welfare schemes.
To ensure opportunities for promotion and training.
To protect the jobs of labour against retrenchments and layoffs etc.
To inculcate discipline, self-respect, and dignity among workers
To provide legal assistance to workers in connection with industrial disputes.
To secure workers participation in management What outcomes do we want to achieve (are they measurable?)

Our Main Activities

Lobbying activities with regard to ratifying C189 and C190
Educational programs for Domestic workers
Programs on the Importance of getting Unionised
Decent Work for domestic workers awareness program
Programs on Dignity and Labour rights for Domestic workers
Awareness programs on the importance of social security for domestic workers
Leadership and Communication workshops
Soft skills and Capacity building workshops
Workshops on Gender base violence and harassment
Awareness programs on C189 and C190

OUR TEAM

PROTECT is a union that represents all paid workers. We are obligated to represent you whether you are a permanent, insecure, contract, or casual fixed-time employee. Join us today to achieve your long-term goals.