How Worker’s Rights Organizations Rank the World

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) is the world’s largest trade union federation. Recently, it examined the legal and general working environments of 139 countries, “based on 97 indicators. That includes rights like freedom of association (being able to form a union), collective bargaining, and the right to strike. Top ranking countries (‘Irregular Violation of Rights’) generally observe these liberties, while those at the bottom don't (‘No guarantee of rights’).” FastCompany.com, May 28^th.

As we watch income polarization in the United States squeeze the middle class downwards, expanding the under-earning bottom segment as the wealth at the narrowest segment at the top rises dramatically, it becomes useful to examine exactly how we work and how much we work. Unlike many nations in Europe, while there are a few U.S. overtime rules for wage-based compensation, there is no statutory limit to how many hours an employer can require an American worker to put in, how many days per week or when those services need to be done. But while the average 1700 hours average per year for U.S. workers is significantly higher than workers in Europe, Asian hours can make even the U.S. number look small by comparison.

On the other hand, looking at how workers are treated when they work provides an entirely different perspective. The ITUC examined worker’s health, safety, working conditions, right to collectivize to protect working conditions, restrictions on employers’ ability to fire workers who protest treatment on the job, how labor laws are enforced, etc. The result of that examination (The ITUC Global Rights Index,  a report issued on May 19^th) produced five (plus) categories of national-average working environments.

1 – Irregular violations of rights: 18 countries including Denmark and Uruguay
2 – Repeated violations of rights: 26 countries including Japan and Switzerland
3 – Regular violations of rights: 33 countries including Chile and Ghana
4 – Systematic violations of rights: 30 countries including Kenya and the USA
5 – No guarantee of rights: 24 countries including Belarus, Bangladesh and Qatar
5+ - No guarantee of rights due to breakdown of the rule of law: 8 countries including Central African Republic and Somalia.

Huh? The U.S. is in a cluster of third world countries, separated far from most of the rest of the developed world, and trailing countries like Chile and Ghana? We know the Great Recession and the resulting boost in unemployment statistics pushed the power to employers, and that union membership in the private sector is all but gone, but really? “Workers in countries with the rating of 4 have reported systematic violations. The government and/or companies are engaged in serious efforts to crush the collective voice of workers putting fundamental rights under continuous threat.” Whew! Really? The United States?

“[I]t’s no surprise that Qatar comes low in the ranking, where hundreds of workers are dying building stadiums for the 2022 World Cup… [But] ‘The U.S. has not ratified core labour standards set by international law,’ Makbule Sahan, the lead author of the report, wrote in an email. ‘Even though the country has an extremely high inequality rate and limited social protection, workers are repressed whenever they ask for better working conditions.’” FastCompany.com.

To those defending the income inequality factor in the United States, it’s all about global economic factors outside of our control – the lack of good jobs stemming from America’s inability to compete against global wages rates for comparable work. Still, those critics are precisely the forces that pressure Congress and state legislatures to cut spending, even at the expense of the education our work force needs to regain that competitive edge.

So how could we address this rather harsh reality? Assuming our government actually cared, which appears to be a stretch since our elected representatives treasure campaign contributions more than representing their constituents… given the spiraling cost of getting elected. Guess who has more money to contribute, employees or employers? Here’re my suggestions, which basically prioritize the welfare of most of us in ways that seem lost today:

One: Education at all levels needs to be prioritized with powerful government support to eliminate saddling post-secondary students with mortgage-sized student loans. Every penny that has been eliminated from education budgets over the last few years needs to be reinstated and embellished. We need new national laws to realign primary and secondary tenured seniority systems with a new priority favoring our best teachers. We need our students to rise in international reading and math scores, not continuously decline!

Two: Government incentives to private industry to foment domestic job-creation research and development as well as direct government support for such R&D activities needs to move way up the priority list, well ahead of our bloated military budget.

Three: No more deferred maintenance of our national and local infrastructure. What’s more, we need to expand what we have. Power, water, sewage, dams, levees, roads and highways, bridges, Internet lines, alternative energy, upgraded irrigation systems, desalinization and water recovery operations, etc. need to be the “best in class” in the world. This is an investment with a measurable rate of return, not spending money that just goes down the drain. And think of the jobs, jobs, jobs!

Four: Increase financial regulation and environmental quality, and fight anything that tilts the playing field in favor of rich incumbents back towards average workers. Kill the mythology that environmental regulation kills jobs (it does quite the opposite). Big coal fought hard in W. Virginia, claiming jobs will die, but for the power plants that accepted the need to “clean up,” life goes on and money is still flowing into their coffers with no jobs lost!

Five: Replace the workers’ rights lost in the anti-union movement with new federal standards that increase minimum wages and protect workers from absurd working conditions.

We are rapidly reaching a “use it or lose it” tipping point in national power and economic viability. Fail to invest in  the future, improve the lot for “most of us” and correct the income imbalance we have today, and we can kiss this country’s stature and power in the world goodbye. The choice is ours, and we really need to stop the recent legislative trends that everyone else in the world can see are weakening the United States in ways that soon will be irreparable.

I’m Peter Dekom, and if the rest of the world can see these weakening trends, why can’t we?!