Global Workers' Rights Index 2018

The Global Rights Index reports on annual survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights. It ranks 142 countries against 97 internationally recognized indicators to assess where workers’ rights are best protected in law and in practice. The report rates countries from one to five according to these indicators, with an overall score placing countries in rankings of one to five.

1 Sporadic violations of rights: 13 countries including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Sweden. The other country is Uruguay.

2 Repeated violations of rights: 23 countries including Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Portugal, Switzerland

3 Regular violations of rights: 26 countries including Albania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Hungary, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Russian Federation, Spain, United Kingdom.

4 Systematic violations of rights: 38 countries including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Serbia

5 No guarantee of rights: 32 countries including Belarus, Greece, Kazakhstan, Turkey and Ukraine.

5+ No guarantee of rights due to breakdown of the rule of law: 10 countries including Palestine.

The 2018 report’s key findings include :

• 65% of countries exclude some groups of workers from labour law.
• 87% of countries have violated the right to strike.
• 81% of countries deny some or all workers collective bargaining.
• Out of 142 countries surveyed, 54 deny or constrain free speech and freedom of assembly.
• The number of countries in which workers are exposed to physical violence and threats increased by 10% (from 59 to 65) and include Bahrain, Honduras, Italy and Pakistan.
• Countries where workers are arrested and detained increased from 44 in 2017 to 59 in 2018.
• Trade unionists were murdered in nine countries - Brazil, China, Colombia, Guatemala, Guinea, Mexico, Niger, Nigeria and Tanzania.