The economy today
Labor law is regressing all over the world
Audio 03:56
“In Tunisia, the presidential regime put in place by Kaïs Saïed undermines labor law.
The general strike organized by the UGTT union was widely followed in Tunisia on June 16, 2022 (illustration image).
© JIHED ABIDELLAOUI/REUTERS
By: Dominique Baillard Follow
3 mins
Labor rights violations reached a record level in 2021, warns the International Trade Union Confederation.
In its annual report screening 148 countries, it finds that this regression is noticeable in all regions of the world.
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The first indicator of this leap backwards: physical violence against employees.
They were victims in 50 countries, compared to 45 last year.
There are 13 deaths to be deplored among trade unionists, notably in Italy, India and South Africa.
In nearly 8 out of 10 countries, 77%, employees have been prevented from founding or joining a union.
87% of the 148 countries examined do not respect the right to strike.
This annual report highlights the extent to which labor law is still a rare luxury.
During the pandemic we rediscovered the invisible, all these workers on the front line facing the Covid made the headlines.
But at the same time, their fate has generally deteriorated.
The other factor unfavorable to labor law is often political.
Whenever democracy backs down,
workers' rights pay the price.
This is particularly true in Burma where the ruling junta violently suppresses all demonstrations.
Burma this year again finds itself among the ten worst countries in the ranking
We also find in this group Bangladesh, the Philippines, Brazil, Colombia;
Guatemala appears for the first time among the ten worst ranked like Eswatini, the former Swaziland.
Belarus, Turkey and Egypt are also ranked among the worst.
Most of these countries have emerging economies, they are scattered all over the world.
However, there are regions where labor law is less well respected than elsewhere.
This is the case of the North Africa/Middle East region, the worst-rated region.
Even if some countries have made positive reforms, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, for example, have improved the rights of foreign workers, the results remain very negative, especially for foreign labor from the Gulf countries.
The toll has been aggravated by the political situation in Tunisia where the presidential regime put in place by Kais Saïed is undermining labor rights.
In sub-Saharan Africa, coups and political instability have also worked against workers' rights.
Burkina Faso and Guinea, for example, were downgraded.
European countries are among the best ranked
The category of good students, where violations of labor law are isolated, includes exclusively European countries.
They are nine, including Germany, Austria, and most of the Nordic countries.
Europe is not exemplary for all that.
Workers have been exposed to physical violence in a dozen European countries and three out of four of these States have violated the right to strike.
France, the United Kingdom or Spain are accused of repeated violations.
The International Trade Union Confederation points the finger at the abuses committed by Western multinationals.
Like Amazon in Poland, Nestlé in Brazil or H and M in New Zealand.
In the West, the current labor shortage is tipping the scales in favor of wage-earners,
they are able to demand better wages and respect for their rights.
But these tensions can also lead to disturbing excesses, such as child labor which has become widespread in Quebec: more than one in two minors is at work to make up for the absence of adults.
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Employment and Labor