Committee’s proposed amendments ‘not enough’ — activists

AMMAN — A group of Jordanian activists on Saturday issued a statement to lobby legislators to formulate better amendments to the labour draft law that will be discussed today.

The Lower House’s Committee of Labour, Development and Housing concluded its deliberations last week and the draft Labour Law is expected to be discussed today.

“The committee made several amendments that we consider as not enough to secure the rights of labourers in Jordan, including women,” Director of Jordan Labour Watch Ahmad Awad told The Jordan Times.

Awad said many of the demands were “ignored or there was manipulation with the words to show that some articles were amended when in reality they were not. In some instances, they gave the authority to the relevant minister to decide on certain matters”.

He added that one of the main demands ignored by the committee was related to waiving a clause that stipulates that the children of Jordanian women married to non-Jordanians must obtain a work permit.

Other demands, according to Awad were related to work disputes between employers and employees, which is usually handled by unions.

But, he pointed out that a large portion of employees are not members of any unions, “therefore they have no legal entity to resort to in cases of disputes or securing their rights”.

Awad said another demand that was ignored was abolishing Article 98 of the Labour Law, which “doesn’t allow a group of employees to form a trade union without the permission of the tripartite formed by the government, the employers and other trade unions”.

Awad added that “this has prevented the formation of new labour unions in the past 40 years”.

Awad said another demand that was brushed aside included increasing annual leave from 14 to 21 days and anyone who works for five years or more from 21 to 28 days.

“But the committee increased it by only four days,” Awad explained.

The activists’ statement also mentioned an amendment “related to the provision of daycare for the children of female employees”.

The proposed amendments to the labour draft law by the Lower House’s committee included amending Article 72 to ensure that a daycare is established at any entity whose employees have 15 children or more. 

“We are hopeful that the MPs will adopt our demands,” for which the group has lobbied for a while, Awad said.