Abstract
This paper analyses the relationship between compliance with trade union rights and donors’ aid decisions as evidenced through multi-bilateral contributions to the ILO and a database of Labour Rights’ Indicators. Despite trade union rights being a fundamental worker right that all ILO Member states must uphold, the study finds that the level of labour rights violations is not systematically related to the volume of multi-bi aid channelled through the ILO to recipient countries. Nevertheless, a substantial share of ILO’s voluntary funded programmes implemented in countries with highest labour rights violations targets the strengthening of workers’ organizations, which leads to a discussion on optimal levels of funding in such situations and on conditioning of aid allocation on normative multilateral mechanisms, such as the ILO’s supervisory body.