ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The WageIndicator Foundation and the Centre for Labour Research co-produced the Labour Rights Index 2020. WageIndicator Foundation, a Dutch non-profit established in 2001, works towards increased transparency in labour markets by providing access to minimum wages, living wages, and labour rights information. The Centre for Labour Research, an independent non-profit registered in Pakistan, works as the WageIndicator’s Labour Law Office and produces research on comparative labour issues.
The Labour Rights Index is the culmination of a decade long work on comparative labour law by Iftikhar Ahmad1 who has spearheaded this report. The work has benefited from valuable inputs from the WageIndicator Foundation.
The team gratefully acknowledges WageIndicator for their input and continuous support. Paulien Osse, Dirk Dragstra and Kea Tijdens reviewed the report and made valuable suggestions. Feedback from Professor Rob van Tulder and Willy Wagenmans (WageIndicator Board), Katrin Schulz (World Bank), Professor Evert Verhulp and Rachel Rietveld (University of Amsterdam), Professor Beryl ter Haar (University of Leiden), and Asghar Jameel (Centre for Labour Research Board) helped refine the Index and its methodology.
The idea of the Labour Rights Index was born as early as in 2013 and is based on the Decent Work Check, a tool developed by WageIndicator in 2008. Those who contributed to the development of the tool included Paulien Osse, Kea Tijdens, Dirk Dragstra, Leontine Bijleveld, Egidio G. Vaz Raposo and Lorena Ponce De Leon. Iftikhar Ahmad joined WageIndicator in 2010 and later expanded the work to new topics and detailed information on workplace rights in 2012. The Decent Work Checks have been updated annually for the last eight years and published in all national WageIndicator websites.
We are also grateful to all the organizations from which we source the key facts that are part of the country profiles. These include the World Bank, the International Labour Organization and the WageIndicator Foundation. The scoring for country profiles under different indicators, though essentially hinged on the Decent Work Checks, have also been confirmed from other indices/reports including the Women, Business and Law Database (World Bank), Doing Business (World Bank), ISSA Country Profiles, various ILO databases, the US DOS Human Rights Report, the US ILAB Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor, the ITUC Global Rights Index and the Center for Global Workers’ Rights. A special thanks is due to the International Labour Organization whose instruments (conventions and recommendations) are part of our scoring methodology: the country scoring has been based on these instruments, as much as possible. The comments and observations of ILO supervisory body, the Committee of Experts on Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR), were taken into account while scoring trade union questions.
Shanza Sohail, at the Centre for Labour Research, has assisted in the drafting process. Scoring is done by the WageIndicator/Centre for Labour Research team comprising Sehrish Irfan, Shanza Sohail, and Ayesha Kiran with Shaista Batool contributing in the scoring as well. Sobia Ahmad reviewed the scores and did a quality check of data. The report and country profiles are designed by Zoya Waheed, with assistance from Zermina. Rogério Marques Benedito Júnior has created country-level videos, showcasing labour rights information for 115 countries. Daniela Ceccon has created data visualization through Tableau which allows comparative analysis at country and regional level. The Labour Rights Index Heat Map has been designed by Seemab Haider. The Index, data visualization, heat map, country profiles and videos are available on https://labourrightsindex.org.
Country Level Contributors
Albania
Elvisa Drishti
Argentina (and Latin America)
Lorena Ponce De Leon
Bangladesh
Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS)
Belgium
Dirk Dragstra
Brazil, Portugal and Angola
Ludmilla Caminha Barros
Burundi (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo, and Tunisia)
Liberat Bigirimana
Egypt
Hossam Hussein, Rana Medhat
Ethiopia
Birhanu Mekonnen, Hunde Gudeta
Greece
Stefani Kostagianni
Hungary
Szilvia Borbély
India
Khushi Mehta, Kapish Agrawal
Indonesia
Nadia Pralitasari
Italy
Daniela Ceccon
Japan
Haruka Sasayama
Malaysia
Nor Farah Ashikin binti Abdul Rahim
Mexico
Angelica Flores
Mozambique and Cape Verde
Egidio G. Vaz Raposo, Rogério Marques Benedito Júnior
Netherlands
Leontine Bijleveld
Fiona Dragstra
Niels Peuchen
Pakistan
Iftikhar Ahmad
Russia (plus Russian speaking Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine)
Elena Golovko
South Africa (Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe)
Karen Rutter
Spain
Miquel Lóriz Toro
Tanzania
Oscar Mkude
Vietnam
Thuonghien Dong