PH on list of world’s 10 worst countries for workers anew

LABOR RIGHTS Workers at a tuna processing plant do their usual daily work routine. —INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines was again named by an international labor union federation among the 10 worst countries for workers in the world.

In its annual report released over the weekend, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) found that abuses by government and companies against workers’ rights—such as the right to strike, organize a union and free speech—were at an all-time high since the organization started documenting the abuses eight years ago.

“Workers are under attack like never before,” Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the ITUC, said in a statement after the release of the 2021 Global Rights Index.

“Governments and employers exploited the pandemic to exploit the people the world depends on by increasing surveillance, breaking agreements, laying off workers, blocking and intimidating unions and resorting to violence and murder,” she said.

According to ITUC, the 10 worst countries for working people in 2021 were Bangladesh, Belarus, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Honduras, Myanmar, the Philippines, Turkey and Zimbabwe.

Belarus and Myanmar entered the infamous list this year.

The eighth edition of the ITUC Global Rights Index ranks 149 countries based on the degree of respect for workers’ rights.

The Philippine labor group, Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (Sentro) said the annual ITUC report had consistently identified the Philippines among the most unsafe countries for workers.

“Under the Duterte government, many trade unionists have been murdered across the country. The report listed seven murdered leaders and 28 arrested unionists from March 2020 to April 2021,” Sentro said.

It cited the arrest of five Sentro and Partido Manggagawa trade unionists in Cebu in November last year.