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The ITUC recently published its Frontlines 2013 report: “Ideology without economic evidence: IMF attacks on collective bargaining”.



The Frontlines 2013 Report is a comprehensive study, which contests the economic justifications deployed by the IMF in its deregulatory labour market reform instructions, especially over collective bargaining. The Report was released on the eve of the IMF Spring meetings whilst very high levels of unemployment remain and increasing inequality continues directing the global economy.



The deregulatory agenda over labour market institutions pushed by the IMF, as part of the Troika, challenges democratic practices and imposes flawed economic reforms that threaten the fabric of society itself. Social unrest and social divisions are aggravated by the imposition of labour market advice and assistance conditionality, geared towards the dismantling of collective bargaining arrangements. The IMF deregulatory agenda does not produce economic benefits. On the contrary, it exacerbates economic hardship and threatens decent working conditions and wages.



The ITUC Report demonstrates that there is no economic justification for the implemented and imposed attacks on workers’ rights and the dismantling of collective bargaining arrangements, which adversely impact workers, families, entire communities and the economy as such.



The ITUC Report makes a strong case against the deregulatory recommendations of the IMF at a time when unemployment is the top priority on a global level. Whereas evidence proves that strong unions, extensive collective bargaining coverage, and carefully designed collective bargaining arrangements produce significant economic advantages and boost labour demand, the IMF strategy goes in the entirely opposite direction.



The ITUC Report warns that austerity does not work and that amidst the difficult economic climate it only adds to global inequality. The ITUC calls for a change of course that is informed by economic evidence. Attacks on collective bargaining and workers’ rights must end.



The Report reviews collective bargaining rights in Australia, New Zealand, the US and European-wide countries including the Nordic countries, with individual chapters on Romania, Greece, Spain and Portugal.



You can access the ITUC Frontlines 2013 report in the Related Files tab.