Trump takes ‘wrecking ball’ to staff’ rights amid world ‘freefall’, new file says

Workers’ rights throughout each continent on the planet are in a “freefall”, in step with the 2025 Global Rights Index launched via the International Trade Union Confederation, the most important industry union federation on the planet.

The index famous staff’ rights and democracy around the globe are regularly beneath assault via “far-right politicians and their unelected billionaire backers. Whether it’s Donald Trump and Elon Musk in the US or Javier Milei and Eduardo Eurnekian in Argentina, we see the same playbook of unfairness and authoritarianism in action around the world.”

In the United States, the index cited “the Donald Trump administration has taken a wrecking ball to the collective labour rights of workers and brought anti-union billionaires into the heart of policymaking”.

These movements, in step with the index, come with stripping union protections from 47,000 staff on the Transportation Security Administration, making an attempt to revoke civil provider protections for massive swaths of federal workers and firing a member of the National Labor Relations Board, leaving it with no quorum.

Luc Triangle, secretary common of the International Trade Union Confederation, stated the file covers occasions up till March 2025, however those developments have persevered to irritate in the United States since then.

The Trump management has additionally significantly minimize workforce on the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, fired a board member of the Federal Labor Relations Authority and issued an govt order revoking collective bargaining rights for almost all of federal workers.

“In more and more countries, we have elected leaders that once they are elected democratically, they are taking action against democratic values,” stated Triangle. “The first target of those leaders in many countries is they attack trade human rights and workers’ rights, because we are the biggest defenders of democratic values and in that sense also their biggest opponents as largest social movement in the world.”

Three out of 5 world areas noticed prerequisites for staff’ rights irritate, together with the Americas and Europe hitting their worst rankings at the index because it used to be established in 2014.

Only seven out of 151 international locations surveyed via the index had a top-tier score on staff’ rights, down from 18 in 2015.

Workers’ get entry to to justice used to be limited in 72% of countries surveyed, the worst on file, 87% of nations violated the correct to strike and 80% violated the correct to collective bargaining.

The worst nations for staff, in step with the file, are Bangladesh, Belarus, Ecuador, Egypt, Eswatini, Myanmar, Nigeria, the Philippines, Tunisia and Turkey.

Only 3 nations, Australia, Mexico and Oman, noticed their rankings fortify from 2024.

Triangle warned that the billionaire backers of those politicians have pop out of the shadows and handiest expanded their wealth and keep an eye on over vital portions of society, in a “coup” via billionaires of democratic establishments globally which can be using those deteriorating prerequisites for staff’ rights.

“In the last four or five years with Covid and increased inflation, people lost purchasing power and that’s the breeding ground for extremist parties to get voters to vote for extremist parties, which actually don’t offer any solution for the working people,” stated Triangle.

The federation of unions is pushing a marketing campaign for democracy that delivers towards the framework type used via Donald Trump and Elon Musk in the United States, and different billionaires and far-right political leaders around the globe.

“The five richest people in the world more than doubled their wealth over the last five years, while 60% of the population of the world got poorer. We are investing nearly US$3tn as a world into arms and into weapons and there is unfair taxation. So if we want to find the money for delivering to working people to what they really need – good wages, more jobs, rights, social protections – it’s a matter of political choice.”