A/HRC/34/57 favoured decentralized bargaining of exclusionary provisions less favourable than the provisions at a higher level constituted, in this regard, a weakening of freedom of association and collective bargaining contrary to the principles of Conventions No. 87 and No. 98.30 31. The fact that the Government of Spain allowed employers unilaterally not to apply conditions stipulated in collective agreements was found not to be in conformity with article 6 (2) of the European Social Charter, 31 while the crisis-related unilateral suspension of a collective agreement, as undertaken by the Government of Greece, was found to be in breach of ILO Convention No. 98. 32 In this regard, the Committee on Freedom of Association emphasized that any urgent measure implemented in the context of an economic crisis that restricted collective bargaining had to be of a temporary nature, necessary, and accompanied by “adequate safeguards to protect workers’ living standards”.33 B. Adverse effects of adjustment programmes on labour rights 32. Adjustment reforms undertaken to prevent, mitigate or overcome sovereign debt crises have affected workers’ human rights on a number of occasions and in various ways. In a study that examined data on 131 developing countries over the period from 1981 to 2003, it was found that the longer the time span during which a country was subjected to a structural adjustment programme sponsored by IMF and the World Bank, the lower the level of protection of labour rights in its territory. 34 Another study that analysed data from 123 developing and emerging economies found a significant negative relation between IMF and World Bank programmes and collective labour rights, notably with regard to workers’ freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, both in law and in practice. 35 This adds to the literature on the impact of currency crises on labour standards, which found that such crises reduce the aggregate labour share, notably in the manufacturing sector, and lead to a decline in real wages and higher general and youth unemployment, among others.36 33. Workers’ wages have very often been affected by economic adjustment reforms. A study of 110 countries identified a negative effect of IMF financial assistance programmes on the labour share in the manufacturing sector. 37 IMF and World Bank-sponsored 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 ILO Committee on Freedom of Association, Case No. 2820 (Greece), 365th report, November 2012, para. 997; also Case No. 2947 (Spain), 371st report, March 2014, para. 453. European Committee of Social Rights, Conclusions XX-3 (2014), Spain, art. 6 (2). See ILO Committee on Freedom of Association, Case No 2820 (Greece), 365th report, November 2012, para. 995. ILO Committee on Freedom of Association, Case No 2918 (Spain), 368th report, June 2013, para. 362. Rodwan Abouharb and David Cingranelli, Human Rights and Structural Adjustment (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2007), pp. 87 and 200. Blanton R G, Blanton S L and Peksen D, “The impact of IMF and World Bank programs on labor rights”, Political Research Quarterly (2015) pp. 5 and 9. See, for example, Peter R. Fallon and Robert E.B. Lucas, “The impact of financial crises on labour markets, household incomes and poverty: a review of evidence”, The World Bank Research Observer, vol. 17, No. 1 (2002), p. 41; Paul Maarek and Elsa Orgiazzi, “Currency crises and the labour share”, Economica, vol. 80, No. 319 (2013), p. 583; Misbah Tanveer Choudhry, Enrico Marelli and Marcello Signorelli, “Youth unemployment rate and impact of financial crises,” International Journal of Manpower, vol. 33, No. 1 (2012), pp. 87-88. James Raymond Vreeland, “The effect of IMF programs on labor”, World Development, vol. 30, No. 1 (2002), pp. 124 and 130. 11