For more than a decade, the International Trade Union Confederation’s (ITUC) Global Rights Index has documented the deterioration of workers’ rights around the world. Each year brings new records for attacks on unions, restrictions on collective bargaining and governments willing to intervene on behalf of employers.
The ITUC’s 2026 report shows those trends are not slowing: they are accelerating. The report describes what it calls a “billionaire coup against democracy,” arguing that governments are increasingly reshaping labour law to favour corporate power while restricting the ability of workers to organize and strike.
For Canadian workers, the report arrives at an especially important moment. Just weeks after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered a landmark opinion affirming that the right to strike is protected under international law, the federal government is exploring new ways to limit that same right at home.
The contradiction is stark. As international institutions reaffirm that striking is a fundamental democratic freedom, governments around the world — including Canada’s — are searching for ways to undermine it.
Workers’ Rights Are Under Attacks
The ITUC’s report paints a bleak picture. In no part of the world are workers’ rights being adequately protected.
Violations of the right to strike were documented in 87 per cent of countries surveyed. Eighty per cent of countries restricted collective bargaining. Three-quarters denied or impeded workers’ ability to form or join unions. Half of all countries arrested or detained workers for exercising their rights — a record high. Attacks on freedom of speech and assembly also reached their highest level since the index began.
These are not isolated abuses occurring only under authoritarian governments. The report argues that democratic governments are increasingly adopting legal restrictions that weaken organized labour while expanding employer power. North America is not immune.
The United States continues to receive one of the poorest ratings among advanced industrial economies. The Donald Trump administration has accelerated this trend. While union organizing has increased in recent years, and the National Labor Relations Board was more worker-friendly during the Biden era, workers continue to face aggressive anti-union campaigns, widespread employer retaliation, permanent replacement of strikers in many jurisdictions, and weak labour law enforcement.
Although Canada performs considerably better than the U.S., the report still assigns the country a rating indicating “regular violations of rights.” The ITUC index points to continued government intervention in collective bargaining, restrictions on strikes in federally regulated sectors and recurring use of back-to-work legislation and other interference as evidence that fundamental labour rights remain vulnerable in Canada.
The pattern extends across Europe as well.
Although Northern Europe continues to rank among the strongest performers globally when it comes to the protection of workers’ rights, the report notes growing attacks elsewhere on the continent. Governments have imposed emergency restrictions on strikes, weakened collective bargaining institutions and introduced legislation limiting industrial action in sectors deemed economically or politically sensitive. Even countries with long traditions of “social dialogue” have experienced growing pressure to curb workers’ bargaining power.
The overall picture is one of gradual democratic backsliding. Rather than openly banning unions, many governments are narrowing the circumstances under which workers can effectively exercise their rights. Collective bargaining formally remains legal, and even encouraged, but employers are given far more opportunities to avoid or circumvent it. The right to strike in most cases exists on paper, but governments disregard it whenever workers wield sufficient leverage to disrupt business as usual.
Hellbound and Down 