A recent report by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) ranks Greece among the world’s worst countries for workers concerning the abuse of labor union rights, and worst in Europe.
“Countries such as Denmark and Uruguay led the way through their strong labor laws, but perhaps surprisingly, the likes of Greece, the United States and Hong Kong, lagged behind,” ITUC Secretary General Sharan Burrow said Monday while revealing the ITUC Global Rights Index at the ITUC World Congress in Berlin.
The ITUC Global Rights Index ranks 139 countries against 97 internationally recognized indicators to assess where workers’ rights are best protected, in law and in practice, and is published this year for the first time, so that every government and business can see how their laws and supply chains stack up.
The survey classifies the countries in five categories, while a 5+ category is used for the countries where no guarantee of rights exists due to breakdown of the rule of law (including Libya, Palestine, Syria, Ukraine and the CAR).
Greece is classified as a category 5 country. According to the survey, “Countries with a 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.” China, Egypt, Turkey, India, Nigeria and Bangladesh are among the other countries of the category.
The top category features countries with few violations of rights and includes Belgium, Germany, South Africa, Uruguay and the Netherlands, among others.
The U.S. is ranked in category 4, and the U.K. in category 3.
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