According to the work, published in the academic journal Human Rights Quarterly, the five countries with the best scores in protecting workers' rights are Canada, Sweden, New Zealand, Norway, and Portugal. The five worst are Iran, Syria, North Korea, China and Iraq.

In a statement, the university said that the data is part of the 2023 annual report of the CIRIGHTS Data Project, “the largest data set on human rights in the world”.

“The project ranks countries around the world [195] in terms of respect for human rights”, based on “25 internationally recognised human rights”, and is co-led by David Cingranelli, professor of Political Science at Binghamton University, in the state of New York.

When assessing workers' rights, data on unionization, collective bargaining, the existence of working hours, forced labor, child labor, minimum wage, safe working conditions, and human trafficking are taken into account.

The right to form a union and the right to collective bargaining “are among the least protected human rights” and are “always violated to some extent,” the investigators wrote.

For example, in relation to respect for collective bargaining, 51% of countries received a score of zero, meaning widespread violations of this right, and only 16 “scored two”, meaning investigators found no indication of violation. In the case of child labour, the report indicates that “around 87% of countries” around the world recorded cases of employment of children and adolescents and that “in a third of countries violations were widespread”.

“Previous research shows that governments are unlikely to protect the rights to an adequate minimum wage, health, and safety at work, or reasonable limits on working hours (including voluntary overtime) unless workers are allowed to form independent unions and negotiate collectively,” said Cingranelli, quoted in the statement.

“The right to unionize, negotiate, and strike are access rights. If they are protected, it is likely that all other employment rights will also be protected. But access rights are in decline globally,” he added.

Cignarelli pointed out that while rich, democratic countries protect labor rights more than others, economic inequality has increased almost everywhere.

“Economic globalization has increased competition between nations, which has led governments to favor companies to the detriment of workers in conflicts between the two”, explained the professor.

According to Cignarelli, in less economically developed countries, large agricultural, mining, and oil extraction companies do what they want in relation to workers.

He also said it is “important to remember that companies and workers typically take opposing positions on how much attention business leaders should pay to what workers want in terms of the terms and conditions of their work,” adding that the former “typically prefer to distribute the most part of the profit (…) to shareholders and not to workers”.

The existence of a demanding labor law in a country can lead companies to relocate, but Cignarelli noted that the government has a role in ensuring that workers have a fair opportunity to make their concerns heard.

“Without government policies that protect workers, companies can do whatever they want to keep unions at bay,” declared the investigator.