DOCSLIB.ORG

Wages and Work Practices in Union and Open Shop

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

WAGES AND WORK PRACTICES IN UNION AND OPEN SHOP CONSTRUCTION by Clinton Currier Bourdon Submitted to the Department of Urban Studies and Planning on December 15, 1982 in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctorate in Philosophy This is the most complete text of the thesis available. The following page(s) were not included in the copy of the thesis deposited in the Institute Archives by the author: (title page) MASSACHUStTS NSTTUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 0cT 208 6 4~A~8 Abstract WAGES AND WORK PRACTICES IN UNION AND OPEN SHOP CONSTRUCTION by Clinton Currier Bourdon Submitted to the Department of Urban Studies and Planning on December 15, 1982 in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctorate in Philosophy ABSTRACT Craft unions in the construction industry have long enjoyed relatively high hourly wages and benefits and have played major roles in the training, hiring, and assignment of construction labor. But in the 1970s they became increasingly threatened by the widespread growth of nonunion construction firms and labor. This spread of nonunion firms in the industry permits a detailed comparison of compensation and work practices in the union and open shop sectors of construction. This comparison allows a unique analysis of the union impact on both compen- sation and construction labor market institutions. A single-equation econometric estimation of the union/nonunion wage differential in construction using a micro-data base on workers' wages, characteristics, and union status provided evidence of a union wage differential in construction exceeding fifty percent. But further analysis showed that this estimate may be biased upward by the heter- eogenity of skills and occupations in construction as well as by the positive correlation of wages and union status. Other observations of union/nonunion wage differential, based on sample surveys designed to control for skill level, occupation, and type of construction, revealed much lower union wage differentials which varied considerably by trades and geographic area. Labor market institutions in construction, such as apprenticeship, hiring halls, and jurisdictions, are often seen as largely restrictive union practices, or labor market distortions, which serve to maintain high union wages. Interviews with a sample of union and open shop contractors showed, however, that (1) similar institutions existed in both sectors of the industry and thus were not a function of union status alone but an outgrowth of market structure, firm size, and technology and (2) these institutions could enhance the efficiency of construction labor markets by facilitating investment in training, job referrals, and the retention of a skilled but mobile labor force. Thesis Supervisor: Dr. Michael Piore Title: Profesor of Economics iii CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY 1.1 The Study of Union Impact ............................ 1 1.2 Craft Unions in Construction ......................... 6 1.3 External Labor Markets and Endogenous Unions ......... 17 2. ECONOMIC ANLAYSIS OF UNION IMPACT 2.1 Union Wage Impact: Lewis and Critiques .............. 25 2.2 Single-Equation Estimates ............................ 29 2.3 Union Wage Impact and Market Structure ............... 34 2.4 Wages and Endogenous Unions .......................... 37 2.5 Union Wage Impact--A Critique ....................... 41 3. UNION WAGE AND OCCUPATIONAL DIFFERENTIALS 3.1 Wage Equations: Craft Union Impact .................. 66 3.2 Union/Nonunion Construction Wage Survey ............. 91 4. NONWAGE IMPACTS OF CONSTRUCTION CRAFT UNIONS 4.1 The Labor-Management Context ........................ 128 4.2 Jurisdictions ....................................... 135 4.3 Skill Level and Skill Structure ..................... 159 4.4 Technology and Work Practices ........................ 170 4.5 Hiring and Screening Systems ......................... 181 4.6 Training and Apprenticeship ......................... 188 4. NONWAGE IMPACTS OF CONSTRUCTION CRAFT UNIONS (cont'd) 4.7 Other Observations ................................... 194 4.8 Nonwage Impacts: Summary and Implications ........... 201 5. CRAFT UNIONS: ROLE AND IMPACT 5.1 Models of Union Behavior ............................. 208 5.2 Market Structure and Union Behavior .................. 211 5.3 Craft Unions and External Labor Markets .............. 224 5.3.1 Labor Market Institutions--The Organizational Failures Approach .............. 229 5.3.2 Occupational Definition: Toward a Theory of Jurisdictions .............................. 238 5.3.3 Training and Apprenticeship ................... 252 5.3.4 Hiring and Referral: Networks and Halls ...... 257 5.3.5 Work Rules: Common Labor Standards ........... 261 5.3.6 Sum: The Efficiency Contributions of Craft Institutions ............................ 264 5.4 The Study of Unions .................................. 267 1. INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY 1.1 The Study of Unions The industrial relations and labor economics literature of the nineteen-fifties is rich in descriptive studies of union behavior in particular sectors of the economy. Economists such as Segal, Chamberlain, Slichter, Dunlop, and Levinson wrote detailed studies of union impact on all aspects of the terms and conditions of employment in industries as various as trucking, construction, and paper. Lewis' work in the late nineteen-fifties was, however, the first economic study of unions which was rigorously analytical and largely quanti- tative in approach. At the time, Lewis' pioneering study of the union impact on wages alone was a useful complement to the more "institutionalist" approach which included a range of other issues in its analysis. Among these other issues were work rules and featherbedding; labor and product market structure; jurisdictional definitions; technological change; and management interests and ideology. Ever since the publication of Lewis' book, however, economic analysis of union impact has focused almost entirely on the union/non- union wage differential issue. The development of micro data bases unavailable to Lewis, first on an industry then on an individual level, facilitated the use of regression analysis to control for other than the "pure" union impact on wages. Currently, single- equation regressions which estimate the common proportional impact of -2- unionism on wages by industry group, while controlling for personal characteristics of workers (as a proxy for productivity), are the mainstay of the dwindling literature on union impact and behavior. This near degeneration of the literature into simple regression-running cannot be ascribed solely to the quantitative perversity of modern economics. Occasional attempts to include various institutional or structural variables in union wage equations, such as the industry concentration ratio, have not been very suc- cessful. Nonetheless, the possible impacts of unions on non-wage aspects of the employment relation, either deleterious or beneficial, have continued to remain largely unstudied or analyzed. In contem- porary economic analysis unions are now simple, homogeneous organizations ('unionism is unionism' as Reder put it in a critique of Lewis) with a single argument in their utility function: to raise wages above a competitive norm. If successful, and labor supply is excessive due to the higher wages, then unions may only become interested in non-wage institutions in order to restrict worker entry and ration employment. Despite what Ashenfelter calls this neoclassical "consensus" that has been reached both on how to approach the study of unions and on their wage impact there are odd strands in the literature which challenge the common view. Three most important of these are the following: (1) Endogenous Unions: the standard approach to the analysis of union impact is to assume unions are an exogenous, -3- independent force which acting alone raise wages. The common ex- pression of this theory is a single equation regression where wages are a function of both human capital variables (Xij) and union power: Wi = bo + Z bj Xij + bl Ui + ei j so that unionism is simply a dummy variable (Ui) affecting the wages of a particular worker i. Ashenfelter and Johnson, drawing on some of the institutional literature of the 1950's, show that since unions provide non-wage services to workers (e.g., grievance procedures) they may be demanded by higher wage or income workers. (Inother words, union services have a high wage or income elasticity.) If this is the case, the single-equation estimates of union impact will be biased since, while measuring the impact of unionism on wages, they will be also capturing some of the influence of wages on unionism. In a two- and three-stage least squares estimation of simultaneous equations relating wages to unionism and vice versa, Ashenfelter and Johnson found the union coefficient in the wage equation, though positive and substantial, was insignificant. They concluded that the simultaneous relationship of unionism and wages had been under- emphasized. Yet, their findings have not been elaborated on - partly due to the difficulty of specifying the simultaneous equations. (2) Labor-management Cooperation: The contemporary economic model of unionism stresses the adversary role unions play in wrestling higher wages from profits (inconcentrated industries) or from consumers (incompetitive industries). What this model overlooks is the beneficial role unions may play in the management and organization of workers in -4- some companies and industries. On the
Recommended publications
  • The Employer's "Good Faith" Bargaining Duty--A Troublesome Test in the Taft-Hartley Act

    The Employer's "Good Faith" Bargaining Duty--A Troublesome Test in the Taft-Hartley Act

    Case Western Reserve Law Review Volume 17 Issue 5 Article 11 1966 The Employer's "Good Faith" Bargaining Duty--A Troublesome Test in the Taft-Hartley Act Francis A. King Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/caselrev Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Francis A. King, The Employer's "Good Faith" Bargaining Duty--A Troublesome Test in the Taft-Hartley Act, 17 W. Rsrv. L. Rev. 1390 (1966) Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/caselrev/vol17/iss5/11 This Note is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Journals at Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Case Western Reserve Law Review by an authorized administrator of Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons. 1390 WESTERN RESERVE LAW REVIEW [Vol. 17:1390 The Employer's "Good Faith" Bargaining Duty- A Troublesome Test in the Taft-Hartley Act A CHARGE FREQUENTLY LEVELED against employers in proceed- ings before the National Labor Relations Board is the refusal to bargain in good faith as required by sections 8(a) (5) and 8(d) of the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA) of 1947.1 Since approximately one-third of all cases heard by the NLRB involve refusal-to-bargain charges,2 it is important for an employer to know what activities on his part will give rise to such a charge. This is increasingly true in light of recent decisions requiring the employer to bargain over such issues as subcontracting, plant removal, and other activities
  • Union Security and the Right to Work Laws: Is Coexistence Possible?

    Union Security and the Right to Work Laws: Is Coexistence Possible?

    William & Mary Law Review Volume 2 (1959-1960) Issue 1 Article 3 October 1959 Union Security and the Right to Work Laws: Is Coexistence Possible? J. T. Cutler Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmlr Part of the Labor and Employment Law Commons Repository Citation J. T. Cutler, Union Security and the Right to Work Laws: Is Coexistence Possible?, 2 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 16 (1959), https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmlr/vol2/iss1/3 Copyright c 1959 by the authors. This article is brought to you by the William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository. https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmlr UNION SECURITY AND RIGHT-TO-WORK LAWS: IS CO-EXISTENCE POSSIBLE? J. T. CUTLER THE UNION STRUGGLE At the beginning of the 20th Century management was all powerful and with the decision in Adair v. United States1 it seemed as though Congress was helpless to regulate labor relations. The Supreme Court had held that the power to regulate commerce could not be applied to the labor field because of the conflict with fundamental rights secured by the Fifth Amendment. Moreover, an employer could require a person to agree not to join a union as a condition of his employment and any legislative interference with such an agreement would be an arbitrary and unjustifiable infringement of the liberty of contract. It was not until the first World War that the federal government successfully entered the field of industrial rela- tions with the creation by President Wilson of the War Labor Board. Upon being organized the Board adopted a policy for- bidding employer interference with the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively and employer discrimination against employees engaging in lawful union activities2 .
  • Trade Unionism in Sweden

    Trade Unionism in Sweden

    Discussion papers DP/109/1999 Trade unionism Labour in Sweden and Society Programme Reinhold Fahlbeck P.O. Box 6 CH-1211 Geneva 22 Tel.004122/7998496 Fax. 004122/7998542 E-mail: [email protected] The International Institute for Labour Studies was established in 1960 as an autonomous facility of the International Labour Organization (ILO). Its mandate is to promote policy research and public discussion on emerging issues of concern to the ILO and its constituents labour, business and government. The Labour and Society Programme examines the outlook for labour at the beginning of the new millennium in the light of changes at the workplace and in society at large. Focusing initially on organized labour, the programme seeks to identify approaches and strategies to enhance the profile of labour as a major actor in civil society, and as a contributor to dynamic and equitable growth. Specifically, the programme will review the changing environment of labour and unions; document trade union responses to these changes; highlight promising approaches for trade unions in civil society and the global economy in future; and outline the type of policy and institutional environment required for the growth of free and effective trade unions. This work is undertaken in close collaboration with international and national trade union organizations and international trade secretariats, and will be implemented through networks consisting of trade union practitioners, academics, research institutes and other policymakers. These networks, both international and regional, will also be a means of disseminating research outcomes to a wider audience. The Discussion Paper Series presents the preliminary results of research undertaken by the IILS.
  • Government Mandated Labor Agreements in Public Construction

    Government Mandated Labor Agreements in Public Construction

    GOVERNMENT MANDATED LABOR AGREEMENTS IN PUBLIC CONSTRUCTION Their History and Factors to Consider Table of Contents The History of Government Mandated Labor Agreements in the Construction Industry . 1 Government Mandated Labor Agreements In Public Construction: Factors to Consider . 7 THE HISTORY OF GOVERNMENT MANDATED LABOR AGREEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY How Public Officials and Their Representatives Have Changed The Purposes and Effects of Construction Project Labor Agreements What are Construction Project Labor Agreements? Project labor agreements are unique to the construction industry. Unlike collective bargaining agreements between other industrial employers and their unions, collective bargaining agreements in the construction industry usually apply only to work performed by signatory contractors in specified counties or other well-defined geographic areas. Project labor agreements are even more specialized and focus on one particular construction project. They are often referred to as “prehire” agreements because they are usually negotiated between construction contractors and one or more building trade union in advance of submitting a bid for the project, and before anyone is actually hired to perform the work. The terms and conditions of a project labor agreement generally: (1) apply to all work performed on a specific project or at a specific location, (2) require recognition of the signatory union(s) as the exclusive bargaining representatives for covered workers, whether or not the workers are union members, (3) supersede all other collective bargaining agreements, (4) prohibit strikes and lockouts, (5) require hiring through union referral systems, (6) require all contractors and subcontractors to become signatory to the agreement, (7) establish standard work rules, hours and dispute resolution procedures and (8) establish wages and benefits.
  • KEEPING MINNEAPOLIS an OPEN SHOP TOWN the Citizens' Alliance in the 1930S

    KEEPING MINNEAPOLIS an OPEN SHOP TOWN the Citizens' Alliance in the 1930S

    KEEPING MINNEAPOLIS AN OPEN SHOP TOWN The Citizens' Alliance in the 1930s Lois Quam and Peter J. Rachleff SINCE the Industrial Revolution, workers have organ­ forces—it relied on various "carrots"—pensions, vaca­ ized to build unions. Maintaining and expanding these tions, insurance, and even company unions. At the unions, however, has called for even greater organ­ same time, employer organization itself was strength­ ization. Employers responded to solidarity in kind, but ened, ranging in size and power from trade associations they united in order to resist and repel unionization. that worked with Secretary of Commerce (and later Usually, the two parties' strengths have been in inverse President) Herbert C. Hoover to locally based organi­ relation: a period in which employers have been well zations committed to keeping their communities and organized has typically found workers' groups to be their industries nonunion.' weak, and vice versa. When both sides were well orga­ No local employers' group achieved greater notoriety nized the consequences were dramatic. than the Minneapolis Citizens' Alliance (CA). Class- By the early 20th century, opposition to unions took conscious industrialists, merchants, and lawyers had on increasingly organized form. A nationwide "open worked together in the City of Lakes during the 1917-18 shop drive" between 1902 and I9I7 threatened unions trolley strikes. Over the course of the 1920s, they from the building trades to the metal shops. After a strengthened their organization and assumed the lead­ brief truce during World War I, employers introduced ership of the entire Minneapolis business community. the "American Plan," geared both to driving out exist­ By the early 1930s they had gained nationwide atten­ ing unions and to forestalling any new efforts.
  • Capitalist Meltdo-Wn

    Capitalist Meltdo-Wn

    "To face reality squarely; not to seek the line of least resistance; to call things by their right names; to speak t�e truth to the masses, no matter how bitter it may be; not to fear obstacles; to be true in little thi�gs as in big ones; to base one's progra.1!1 on the logic of the class struggle;. to be bold when the hour of action arrives-these are the rules of the Fourth International." 'Inequality, Unemployment & Injustice' Capitalist Meltdo-wn Global capitalism is currently in the grip of the most The bourgeois press is relentless in seizing on even the severe economic contraction since the Great Depression of smallest signs of possible "recovery" to reassure consumers the 1930s. The ultimate depth and duration of the down­ and investors that better days are just around thecomer. This turn remain to be seen, but there are many indicators that paternalistic" optimism" recalls similar prognosticationsfol­ point to a lengthy period of massive unemployment in the lowing the 1929 Wall Street crash: "Depression has reached imperialist camp and a steep fall in living standards in the or passed its bottom, [Assistant Secretary of Commerce so-called developing countries. Julius] Klein told the Detroit Board of Commerce, although 2 'we may bump along' for a while in returningto higher trade For those in the neocolonies struggling to eke out a living levels " (New Yo rk Times, 19 March 19 31).The next month, on a dollar or two a day, this crisis will literally be a matter in a major speech approved by President Herbert Hoover, of life and death.
  • GLOSSARY of COLLECTIVE BARGAINING TERMS and SELECTED LABOR TOPICS

    GLOSSARY of COLLECTIVE BARGAINING TERMS and SELECTED LABOR TOPICS

    GLOSSARY of COLLECTIVE BARGAINING TERMS and SELECTED LABOR TOPICS ABEYANCE – The placement of a pending grievance (or motion) by mutual agreement of the parties, outside the specified time limits until a later date when it may be taken up and processed. ACTION - Direct action occurs when any group of union members engage in an action, such as a protest, that directly exposes a problem, or a possible solution to a contractual and/or societal issue. Union members engage in such actions to spotlight an injustice with the goal of correcting it. It further mobilizes the membership to work in concerted fashion for their own good and improvement. ACCRETION – The addition or consolidation of new employees or a new bargaining unit to or with an existing bargaining unit. ACROSS THE BOARD INCREASE - A general wage increase that covers all the members of a bargaining unit, regardless of classification, grade or step level. Such an increase may be in terms of a percentage or dollar amount. ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE – An agent of the National Labor Relations Board or the public sector commission appointed to docket, hear, settle and decide unfair labor practice cases nationwide or statewide in the public sector. They also conduct and preside over formal hearings/trials on an unfair labor practice complaint or a representation case. AFL-CIO - The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations is the national federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of fifty-six national and international unions, together representing more than 12 million active and retired workers.
  • Louisiana Afl-Cio Union Members' Opinions Regarding Participation, Satisfaction and Leadership

    Louisiana Afl-Cio Union Members' Opinions Regarding Participation, Satisfaction and Leadership

    Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1978 Louisiana Afl-Cio Union Members' Opinions Regarding Participation, Satisfaction and Leadership. Margaret Mary Stevens Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Stevens, Margaret Mary, "Louisiana Afl-Cio Union Members' Opinions Regarding Participation, Satisfaction and Leadership." (1978). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 3217. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/3217 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This material was produced from a microfilm copy of the original document. While the most advanced technological means to photograph and reproduce this document have been used, the quality is heavily dependent upon the quality of the original submitted. The following explanation of techniques is provided to help you understand markings or patterns which may appear on this reproduction. 1. The sign or "target" for pages apparently lacking from the document photographed is "Missing Page(s)". If it was possible to obtain the missing page(s) or section, they are spliced into the film along with adjacent pages. This may have necessitated cutting thru an image and duplicating adjacent pages to insure you complete continuity. 2. When an image on the film is obliterated with a large round black mark, it is an indication that the photographer suspected that the copy may have moved during exposure and thus cause a blurred image.
  • A Century of Struggle

    A Century of Struggle

    A Century of Struggle To mark the 100th anniversary of the formation of the American Federation of Labor, the National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian Institution invited a group of scholars and practitioners "to examine the work, technology, and culture of industrial America . " The conference was produced in cooperation with the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations . The excerpts on the following pages are drawn from papers and comments at that conference, in the Museum's Carmichael Auditorium, November IS and 16, 1986. Mary Kay Rieg, Olivia G. Amiss, and Marsha Domzalski of the Monthly Labor Review provided editorial assistance. Trade unions mirror society in conflict between collectivism and individualism A duality common to many institutions runs through the American labor movement and has marked its shifting fortunes from the post-Civil War period to the present ALICE KESSLER-HARRIS ideology of American trade unions as they developed in Two competing ideas run through the labor movement, as and post-Civil War period. It also tells us something of their they have run through the American past. The first is the the The conglomeration of unions that formed the Na- notion of community-the sense that liberty is nurtured in impact . Union and the 15,000 assemblies of the an informal political environment where the voluntary and tional Labor of Labor responded to the onslaught of industrial- collective enterprise of people with common interests con- Knights the Civil War by searching for ways to reestablish tributes to the solution of problems . Best characterized by ism after of interest that was threatened by a new and the town meeting, collective solutions are echoed in the the community organization of work.
  • Shop Steward Glossary

    Shop Steward Glossary

    The Shop Steward Glossary Canadian Labour Congress CanadianLabour.CA The Shop Steward Glossary Across-the-board adjustment Change in pay rates made for all employees in a workplace or particular group. Adjudication The equivalent to grievance arbitration; a method under the Public Service Employee Relations Act of providing a settlement of disputes arising out of the terms of any Agreement. Affiliated union A union which is a member of a group of unions. Affirmative action Affirmative action is a comprehensive strategy whose aim is to establish the same percentage of minority group members and women at all levels of the workplaces and unions as there are in the general population. Agency shop A clause in a collective agreement similar to the Rand Formula. Agreement, collective A contract (agreement and contract are interchangeable terms) between one or more unions, acting as bargaining agent, and one or more employee covering wages, hours, working conditions, fringe benefits, rights of workers and union, and procedures to be followed in settling disputes and grievances. Arbitration A method of settling disputes through the intervention of a third party whose decision is final and binding. Such a third party can be either a single arbitrator, or a board consisting of a chairperson and one or more representatives. Arbitration is often used to settle major grievances and for settling contract interpretation disputes. Voluntary arbitration is that agreed to by the parties without statutory compulsion. Compulsory arbitration is that imposed by law. Governments sometimes impose it to avoid a strike or end one. Assessments Special charges levied by unions to meet particular financial needs.
  • Restoring Equity in Right-To-Work Law

    Restoring Equity in Right-To-Work Law

    Restoring Equity in Right-to-Work Law Catherine L. Fisk & Benjamin I. Sachs* Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 857 I. Reading Section 14(b) ................................................................................................. 860 II. A Genuine Right to Be Nonunion .......................................................................... 866 III. Removing the Obligation to Represent Nonmembers for Free ...................... 874 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 879 INTRODUCTION Under United States labor law, when a majority of employees in a bargaining unit choose union representation, all employees in the unit are then represented by the union and the union must represent all of the employees equally.1 Twenty-four states, however, have enacted laws granting such union-represented employees the right to refuse to pay the union for the services the union is legally obligated to provide.2 Although the name prompts strong objection from union supporters, these laws are known as “right-to-work” laws. Right-to-work laws have been around for decades,3 but they have come to national prominence again as another round of states has enacted the legislation. Michigan—a state with relatively high levels of union density4—enacted a right-to- work statute in 2012, and Indiana became a right-to-work state in 2010.5 As a * The authors are, respectively, Chancellor’s Professor of Law, University of California, Irvine School of Law, and Kestnbaum Professor of Labor and Industry, Harvard Law School. Professor Fisk thanks Daniel Schieffer, and Professor Sachs thanks Ani Gevorkian for excellent research assistance. 1. National Labor Relations Act § 9, 29 U.S.C. § 159(a) (2012). 2. Right to Work Resources, NAT’L CONF. ST. LEGISLATURES, http://www.ncsl.org/issues -research/labor/right-to-work-laws-and-bills.aspx (last visited Sept.
  • The 2017 ITUC Global Rights Index the WORLD's WORST

    The 2017 ITUC Global Rights Index the WORLD's WORST

    THE WORLD'S WORST COUNTRIES FOR WORKERS The 2017 ITUC Global Rights Index | 4 The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) is a confederation of national trade union centres, each of which links trade unions of that particular country. It was established on 1 November 2006, bringing together the organisations which were formerly affiliated to the ICFTU and WCL (both now dissolved) as well as a number of national trade union centres which had no international affiliation at the time. The new Confederation has 340 affiliated organisations in 163 countries and territories on all five continents, with a membership of 181 million, 40 per cent of whom are women. It is also a partner in “Global Unions” together with the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD and the Global Union Federations (GUFs) which link together national unions from a particular trade or industry at international level. The ITUC has specialised offices in a number of countries around the world, and has General Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. The 2017 ITUC Global Rights Index | 6 Foreword .............................................9 ASIA .................................................. 70 Bangladesh ....................................... 71 Part I ..................................................13 Cambodia .......................................... 71 The 2017 Results ...............................14 China ................................................ 72 The ITUC Global Rights Index ...............19 Fiji