The ITUC has published the 13th edition of its Global Rights Index, a comprehensive global annual survey of the violation of workers’ rights.
Among the most shocking data points in 2026 are a five-percentage-point rise in violations of free speech and assembly over the past year, a six-percentage point rise in violent attacks against workers, and a three-percentage-point rise in attacks on civil liberties, including a dramatic rise in the number of arrests and detentions of workers and their representatives. They report that new technologies are being deployed as a method of control, used to monitor, discipline and silence workers, with fewer governments consulting unions in good faith before amending or introducing labour laws.
The United Kingdom’s rating improved from 4 (systematic violations of rights) to a rating of 3 (regular violation of rights) in this year’s report. This is its best rating since 2022, following the ERA 2025 becoming law. The report says that “The law repeals excessive restrictions to industrial action introduced in the previous Conservative government’s 2016 Trade Union Act. The 2025 legislation removes minimum service level requirements for some sectors, which threatened striking workers with dismissal and unions with claims for damages. The new law scrapped requirements for an additional turnout threshold in some sectors as well as a simple majority in ballots and reduced the notice period for industrial action to 10 days from 14. Following an...
ABU DHABI: The Public Prosecution has expanded investigation into the publication and circulation of a false report claiming explosions heard in central Dubai. Counsellor Dr Hamad Saif Al Shamsi, ...