Declining Labour and Strengthening Capital: an Analysis of the ilo Wage Report and ituc Rights Index

Abstract The Global Wage Report and the Global Rights Index are published by the International Labour Organization ( ilo ) in Geneva and the International Trade Union Confederation ( ituc ) in Brussels. This article analyses the global data and results presented by these publications and explains how they portray the ineluctable deterioration of workers’ wages and labour rights within the capitalist mode of production. Capitalism implies a tendency towards the dissolution of labour rights and super-exploitation (with wages closer to and below subsistence level). Trade unions’ struggle for labour rights and the improvement of workers’ material conditions and wages only makes sense in relation to a struggle against absolute capitalism.