Uruguay and Denmark top the list of ITUC Global Rights Index

[Judi Lynn]

Monday, May 26th 2014 - 21:55 UTC

Uruguay and Denmark top the list of ITUC Global Rights Index

A global leader-board in the race to protect workers’ rights was released at the ITUC World Congress in Berlin. The ITUC Global Rights Index ranks 139 countries against 97 internationally recognized indicators to assess where workers’ rights are best protected, in law and in practice.


“Countries such as Denmark and Uruguay led the way through their strong labor laws, but perhaps surprisingly, the likes of Greece, the United States and Hong Kong, lagged behind,” said ITUC general secretary Sharan Burrow. “A country’s level of development proved to be a poor indicator of whether it respected basic rights to bargain collectively, strike for decent conditions, or simply join a union at all.”

The International Trade Union Confederation has been collecting data on the abuse of trade union rights around the world for the past 30 years. Now for the first time the ITUC Global Rights Index presents carefully verified information from the last 12 months in an easy-to-use format so that every government and business can see how their laws and supply chains stack up.

Cambodia’s labor law fails to cover many civil servants, there are undue restrictions on the right to elect union representatives, and in 2013 the government responded with lethal force to demonstrators seeking a decent wage and working conditions. This resulted in Cambodia receiving a score of 5 in the Rights Index – the worst possible rating other than for those countries where the rule of law has completely broken down.

In the Middle East, Qatar is yet to allow unions at all for its many migrant workers, while in Latin America, Guatemala was one of the worst places to be a worker, with no guarantee of rights.

More:
http://en.mercopress.com/2014/05/26/uruguay-and-denmark-top-the-list-of-ituc-global-rights-index

[SamKnause]

1. Hi Judi

I was happy to see Venezuela coming in 2nd in South America, just behind Uruguay !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have read the rights of their workers and they are awesome.

We don't have anything that even comes close; union or nonunion in the U.S.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Hi Sam Knause!

You know the right doesn't want workers to have any rights, anyway. It interferes with their excessive profits from greedy, crude exploitation.

Just remember our right-wing Congress scum pushing the idea poor school children should be required to work as janitors at their schools for their chance to have a school lunch just like those who were born into more comfy homes.

Right-wing trolls here will not find anything pleasant being informed Venezuela's workers' rights are more progressive and rational than others, after Uruguay.

Thank you for highlighting this point!