PH among worst places for workers

International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) / Wikipedia Photo

MANILA — A report by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) considered the country among the worst countries to work in.

On a scale of 1 (best) to 5 (worst), the ITCU’s Global Rights Index rates were scaled depending on their compliance with collective labor rights.

The Philippines scored 5, which is equivalent to “no guarantee of rights,” along with 23 other countries including Southeast Asian Countries such as Bangladesh, China, Cambodia, India, Laos, Malaysia, and South Korea.

“Countries with the rating of 5 are the worst countries in the world to work in. While the legislation may spell out certain rights workers have effectively no access to these rights and are therefore exposed to autocratic regimes and unfair labor practices,” the report said.

A total of 97 indicators including workers’ rights to abolish or join unions, collective bargaining, and strikes were evaluated in the study.

Meanwhile, the United States, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Thailand were among the countries that scored 4 which means that these countries have reported “systematic violation of rights.”

Countries with “regular violations of rights” or those in rank 3 are Singapore, Taiwan, Canada, Australia, Ethiopia, Israel, Mozambique, Uganda, United Kingdom and Venezuela.

Among the Asian countries, Japan had the best ranking with the score of 2 which means that the country has a “slightly weaker collective labor rights than those with the rating 1.”

Also among the 2nd rank are New Zealand, Jamaica, Hungary, Ireland, Spain and Switzerland.

On top of the ranking are the 18 countries with rating 1 which means that collective labor rights are “generally guaranteed”, and violations against workers do not occur on a regular basis.

There 18 countries are: Barbados, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, South Africa, Sweden, Togo and Uruguay.