Trump deals blow to workers’ rights amid global decline, report says

The International Trade Union Confederation’s latest report reveals a sharp decline in workers’ rights worldwide.

According to the 2025 Global Rights Index, workers’ rights are deteriorating across all continents, highlighting a global crisis in labor conditions.

The International Trade Union Confederation, the world’s largest trade union federation, issued the report detailing this alarming trend.

The 2025 Global Rights Index highlights how workers’ rights and democracy worldwide face increasing attacks from “far-right politicians and their unelected billionaire backers.”

The report cites figures like Donald Trump and Elon Musk in the US, as well as Javier Milei and Eduardo Eurnekian in Argentina, describing a common pattern of authoritarianism and unfairness.

In the US, the Trump administration is accused of severely undermining collective labor rights by stripping union protections from 47,000 Transportation Security Administration workers, attempting to remove civil service protections for many federal employees, and firing a National Labor Relations Board member, leaving it without a quorum.

Additional actions include drastic staff cuts at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, dismissing a Federal Labor Relations Authority board member, and an executive order limiting collective bargaining for most federal workers.

Luc Triangle, ITUC Secretary General, noted that while the report covers events up to March 2025, these negative trends have worsened since then.

He warned that elected leaders in many countries are undermining democratic values, targeting workers’ rights as they represent one of the largest social movements defending democracy.

The index reports worsening conditions in three of five global regions, with the Americas and Europe recording their poorest scores since the index began in 2014.

Only seven of 151 countries surveyed earned top-tier workers’ rights ratings a sharp decline from 18 in 2015.

Justice access for workers is now restricted in 72% of countries, the right to strike is violated in 87%, and collective bargaining rights are infringed upon in 80%.

The countries with the worst records for workers’ rights include Bangladesh, Belarus, Ecuador, Egypt, Eswatini, Myanmar, Nigeria, the Philippines, Tunisia, and Turkey.

Only three countries Australia, Mexico, and Oman saw improvements in their workers’ rights ratings from 2024, according to the report.

Luc Triangle warned that billionaire backers of far-right politicians have increasingly revealed their influence, expanding their wealth and control over key societal institutions in what he described as a "coup" against democracy, fueling the decline in workers’ rights globally.

"Over the past few years, factors like COVID-19 and rising inflation have eroded people’s purchasing power, creating fertile ground for extremist parties that offer no real solutions for workers," Triangle said.

The global union federation is advocating for a democracy that truly delivers for working people, challenging the models pushed by figures like Donald Trump and Elon Musk, alongside other billionaires and far-right leaders worldwide.

"The five richest individuals have more than doubled their wealth in five years, while 60% of the global population has grown poorer. Despite investing nearly Ksh 390 trillion on arms and weapons, unfair taxation persists. Finding resources to provide fair wages, jobs, rights, and social protections is a political choice," Triangle concluded.