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AMMAN — Jordanian garment factories are fully committed to health, safety and precautionary measures put in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus and defence orders, the Jordan Chamber of Industry (JCI) said on Monday.
The chamber, in a statement cited by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, highlighted the garment sector’s adherence to health and public safety standards, pointing out that no Jordanian worker, among the 76,000-strong workforce in this field, had contracted COVID-19 infection.
The sector has resumed work since April without reporting any infections for some six months, the chamber said.
However, the recent reporting of a large number of infections in one of Al Dulayl-based factories occurred after “workers there contracted the virus from non-Jordanian workers in their residence”, the chamber said.
The JCI denied that the factory had failed to comply with health measures.
The chamber stressed that a recent article by ImpACT International for Human Rights Policies, reports by British newspaper The Guardian, “include misinformation regarding the situation in the garment sector in Jordan”.
Due to the sector’s “key economic and social role” as the main source of foreign exchange in the Kingdom, the companies have continued operations during the COVID-19 pandemic, it said.
The sector’s exports have reached more than 50 markets around the world and support the balance of payments with more than $2 billion, constituting 2 per cent of GDP, the statement added.
The report by ImpACT International claiming that the Kingdom’s manufacturing of cloth face masks violates health conditions is not true, the JCI said in the statement.
Thirty factories have obtained the necessary approvals and certifications from the Jordan Food and Drug Administration to produce these medical supplies after undergoing tests conducted in accordance with the highest international standards, the chamber said.
During the pandemic crisis, the garment sector granted workers wishing to return home their full rights, in cooperation between the owners of factories, the Ministry of Labour and the concerned embassies.
The JCI highlighted a number of defence orders issued by the government to serve the interests of workers and guarantee of their rights, noting that to date, more than 5,000 workers have returned home, who all received their financial rights in full.