For the eighth consecutive year, the Philippines has been listed among the top 10 worst countries for workers by the Brussels-based International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). The 2024 Global Rights Index released by the ITUC cited issues such as red-tagging and the murders of Filipino labor unionists as primary concerns.
The ITUC assigned the Philippines a score of 5, which denotes “No Guarantee of Rights.” This score is part of a scale that ranges from 1 (Sporadic Violations of Rights) to 5+ (No Guarantee of Rights Due to the Breakdown of the Rule of Law). According to the ITUC, countries with a score of 5, including the Philippines, are among the worst places in the world to work.
“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 ITUC stated in its report.
According to GMA News, the report highlighted ongoing issues in the Philippines, noting that “workers and unions in the Philippines remained at the mercy of red-tagging, violence, abductions, and arbitrary arrests.” In 2023, the murders of two prominent trade unionists, Alex Dolorosa and Jude Thaddeus Fernandez, were particularly alarming. The ITUC criticized the government for fostering a climate of fear and persecution, effectively silencing the collective voice of workers.
Philippine affiliates of the ITUC, including the Federation of Free Workers, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), SENTRO, and the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), have called on the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to address the ongoing issues. “Without improvements in unionization rate and collective bargaining coverage that continue to drop due to rampant corporate and state impunity against workers, the Philippines will continue to be one of the worst countries for workers,” they said in a statement.
GMA News Online reached out to Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma for comment, but no response was provided at the time of reporting.
The ITUC’s Global Rights Index, now in its 11th year, assesses the global status of workers’ rights and the efforts to defend and exercise these fundamental rights and freedoms. Joining the Philippines in the Top 10 worst countries for workers in 2024 are Bangladesh, Belarus, Ecuador, Egypt, Eswatini, Guatemala, Myanmar, Tunisia, and Turkiye.