Jordan Times
Friday, February 23, 2007
King calls for clear strategy to regulate labour sector
AMMAN (Petra) — His Majesty King Abdullah on
Thursday stressed that the labour market was a top priority that should be dealt
with efficiently.
During a meeting at the Royal Court with Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit and senior
government officials to discuss the issue of workers, the Monarch emphasised the
need to draw up a clear timetable to activate the comprehensive strategy and the
work plan on the labour sector to help deal with workers’ issues.
He also stressed the importance of arriving at an employment plan to encourage
citizens to replace guest workers.
He called for adopting a clear strategy for dealing with workers’ issues, which
would also support investors operating in different business fields, including
the garment sector, to boost its competitiveness.
King Abdullah also reiterated the need to come up with firm, yet flexible,
mechanisms to deal with violators at the Qualified Industrial Zones (QIZs),
calling for stricter supervision of factories cited for frequent violations.
The King indicated that factories could continue to recruit foreign workers so
that their production will not be affected until a sufficient number of
Jordanian workers were qualified and trained to replace them.
Expressing his support for the Ministry of Labour and the need to provide it
with human resources and the required tools to carry out its mission, the King
reiterated that the new labour law should be clear and transparent, and tackle
all issues related to guest workers.
Bakhit affirmed the government’s commitment to speed up work on the new draft
labour law.
During yesterday’s meeting, Labour Minister Bassem Salem briefed the gathering
on the number of guest workers at the country’s 13 QIZs, whose export volume
reached around $1.18 billion last year. The QIZs employ 53,000 workers, 16,000
of them Jordanians.
Salem also highlighted procedures taken by the ministry to improve workplace
conditions at the QIZs, including intensive inspection campaigns, the launch of
the hotline to receive workers’ complaints and the introduction of a Golden
List.
The list is a special rating developed by the ministry and the QIZs, following a
report issued by the US National Labour Committee in May last year, which
accused Jordan of serious abuses of foreign workers’ rights.
The Golden List lays out strict criteria for factories to adhere to, including
working hours, overtime pay, holidays and working conditions.
The minister also highlighted measures adopted to provide more employment
opportunities for Jordanians, including training and employment programmes
implemented in cooperation with the European Union and the World Bank.
The Labour Ministry is also working with other concerned ministries to regulate
guest workers and deal with pitfalls in this arena, Salem indicated
Director of the King’s Office Bassem Awadallah, Deputy Prime Minister and
Minister of Finance Ziad Fariz, Minister of Justice Sharif Zu’bi, and Minister
of Industry and Trade Salem Khazaaleh attended the meeting.