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ITUC objects to report on labour standards in WB Publication
17 Jun '08
3 min read
Following the publication last Thursday of a report by the World Bank's Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) that is heavily critical of the World Bank's own publication "Doing Business," the ITUC has urged the Bank to definitively remove the topic of labour standards from the mandate of "Doing Business," the Bank's headline annual publication.
"In view of the damage being done by this report to workers' protections worldwide, the World Bank should formally prohibit its staff from using "Doing Business" to formulate policy recommendations for labour market reforms in client countries or to determine access to Bank funds," said ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder.
The IEG report on "Doing Business" (DB) found no relation between the level of employment in different countries and the DB's notorious "employing workers" indicator, which gives the best ratings to countries that have the lowest level of labour regulations.
On the other hand, the IEG observes that "a surprising number of small island states" having almost no labour rules - some of which are not even members of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) - were considered by DB to be best performers for their labour legislation.
The IEG also notes that the DB "paying taxes" indicator, which penalizes countries having any kind of mandatory employers' contributions for pensions, accident insurance, maternity benefits, and so on, tended to give best scores to notorious tax-haven countries.
"In view of the damage being done by this report to workers' protections worldwide, the World Bank should formally prohibit its staff from using "Doing Business" to formulate policy recommendations for labour market reforms in client countries or to determine access to Bank funds," said ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder.
The IEG report on "Doing Business" (DB) found no relation between the level of employment in different countries and the DB's notorious "employing workers" indicator, which gives the best ratings to countries that have the lowest level of labour regulations.
On the other hand, the IEG observes that "a surprising number of small island states" having almost no labour rules - some of which are not even members of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) - were considered by DB to be best performers for their labour legislation.
The IEG also notes that the DB "paying taxes" indicator, which penalizes countries having any kind of mandatory employers' contributions for pensions, accident insurance, maternity benefits, and so on, tended to give best scores to notorious tax-haven countries.
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