Friday, June 19, 2020

America and Organizing Workers

The International Trade Union Confederation's world map showing its rankings of the best and worst countries for working people.

Along with Haiti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and other countries with far fewer resources than the U.S., the nation was ranked as a 4 on a scale of 1 to 5, with the top-ranking countries reporting only "sporadic violations of rights." Of countries with the rating of 4, the ITUC wrote, "The government and/or companies are engaged in serious efforts to crush the collective voice of workers, putting fundamental rights under threat."

Every other G7 country ranked at least a 3 on the scale.

"In many countries, the existing repression of unions and the refusal of governments to respect rights and engage in social dialogue has exposed workers to illness and death and left countries unable to fight the pandemic effectively," said the ITUC. Around the world, the ITUC found that violations of workers' rights are at a seven year high. "The breakdown of the social contract is exposed in the 2020 ITUC Global Rights Index," the report reads. "The trends by governments and employers to restrict the rights of workers through violations of collective bargaining and the right to strike, and excluding workers from unions, have been made worse in 2020 by an increase in the number of countries which impede the registration of unions—denying workers both representation and rights."

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