The International Trade Union Confederation recently said workers faced record abuse of their labor rights in the past year, including union bans and murder.
It noted physical violence was reported in 50 of 148 countries covered in the group’s Global Rights Index between April 2021 and March 2022, up from 45 nations in the previous year. Trade unionists were killed in 13 countries, including Italy, India and South Africa, the union group said.
Furthermore and unfortunately for Filipino workers, the Philippines was included among the 10 “worst countries for working people,” along with Bangladesh, Belarus, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Myanmar, Turkey, Eswatini and Guatemala. The Middle East and North Africa remains the worst region for workers in the world.
“We know that workers are on the front line of multiple and extraordinary crises – historic levels of inequality, the climate emergency, a pandemic destroying lives and livelihoods, and conflicts with devastating domestic and global impacts,” ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow said.
He adds that the index “exposes how this instability is being exploited with so many governments and employers attacking workers’ rights.”
The report scored companies for violating workers’ rights, for being linked to violations of workers’ rights, or failing to use their leverage to address workers’ rights violations. The list included Coca Cola in Hong Kong and Uruguay, H&M in New Zealand, Amazon in Poland, Nestle in Brazil and Hyundai in South Korea, among many others.
While multiple and extraordinary crises all over the planet have provided employers with opportunities to either improve working conditions or further the exploitation, it remains the responsibility of governments to ensure that change always benefits the majority, which at the very least means workers’ rights should always be protected and upheld.
The Philippines is not a newcomer in the ITUC list of “worst countries for working people” but whether it stays there for a few more years or not is not up to the Filipino workers. That choice is ultimately up to the country’s employers and government.
As we weather the crises together, let us not use these difficult times as an excuse to make matters worse. Employers and employees should continuously seek that compromise that will allow all parties to eventually thrive and not just survive.*
