Jordan Times
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Government says
surprised by worker rights case filed by 2 US organisations
By Khalid Neimat
AMMAN — The government on Wednesday said it was surprised and dismayed by the
action of the American Federation of Labour and Congress of Industrial
Organisations (AFL-CIO) and the US National Textile Association (NTA), in filing
a lawsuit against Jordan.
The AFL-CIO, the largest labour federation in the US, representing more than 10
million workers, and the National Textile Association, which represents US
textile producers, on Sept. 21 filed the first worker rights case ever submitted
under the US-Jordan Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
“This is the first time a business association has formally joined in filing a
worker rights case under a trade agreement,” the AFL-CIO and NTA said in a joint
press release issued last week.
They called on the Bush administration to initiate dispute settlement
proceedings under the FTA that would halt alleged workers’ rights violations in
Jordan.
The complaint charges that the Jordanian government failed to meet its
obligations under the Jordan-US FTA’s labour chapter, both because its labour
laws fall short of international standards and because the government has failed
to effectively enforce its laws.
These factors together, the complaint states, “contributed to scandalous abuses
of workers’ rights, especially in the Qualified Industrial Zones (QIZ), revealed
in reports by the AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Centre and the National Labour Committee
(NLC) earlier this year.”
The Labour Ministry said it has developed, with assistance from the
International Labour Organisation (ILO), an action plan that further addresses
all issues pertaining to guest workers, including Labour Law enforcement issues.
In addition, the ministry has collaborated with the USAID to identify the
necessary short-term and long-term measures for combating worker exploitation.
Minister of Labour Bassem Salem said both organisations were aware of Jordanian
measures to handle the allegations that formed the basis of this case, which
were first revealed in the NLC report in May.
The report severely criticised violations of workers’ rights in some QIZs,
claiming that tens of thousands of foreign labourers working in the zones were
stripped of their passports, trapped in involuntary servitude and forced to work
without sleep.
The government reacted by issuing its own report in May, confirming some of the
allegations, while denying others and the Labour Ministry intensified inspection
campaigns in the QIZs.
In a follow-up report in June, the NLC said: “Jordan has made substantial
improvements at many factories, but violations of workers’ rights continue by
smaller subcontractors.”
Referring to the case, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said, “we are delighted
that the NTA has joined the AFL-CIO in filing this historic case... The AFL-CIO
fought hard to include meaningful labour rights provisions in the Jordan-US FTA,
and we will fight just as hard to ensure that our government and the Jordanian
government enforce these important provisions.”
NTA President Karl Spilhaus said, “the egregious abuses reported in Jordan,
100-hour workweeks, unsafe working conditions, and unpaid wages, distort labour-market
conditions globally.”
In their statement, the AFL-CIO and the NTA recognised and welcomed the
important steps taken by the Jordanian government in response to the allegations
of worker rights violations.
The statement added that the Jordanian government had closed at least seven
factories where abuses were occurring and taken steps to improve the labour
inspection regime.
But Sweeney said those measures fell short of what was needed to correct the
widespread abuses in Jordan.
“The Jordanian government must reform its labour laws, and thoroughly overhaul
its inspection and enforcement system,” Sweeney added.
“Well, we would like to know what else is needed to prove that we are totally
serious when dealing with these allegations,” Salem told The Jordan Times
yesterday.
“The ministry has increased the number of inspectors on the team to 164, to
ensure that workers’ rights are protected,” the minister added.
The ministry has also initiated a hotline, in seven different Asian languages,
creating a channel through which workers can lodge complaints.
In its response to the allegations listed in the AFL-CIO and NTA lawsuit, the
government reiterated its position that “it takes these allegations very
seriously and will not tolerate any labour violations against guest workers and
takes all steps necessary to ensure that the treatment of such workers is in
accordance with international standards.”
“We admit that there are still some abuses of workers’ rights by companies, but
we are trying to improve the workplace environment in the country,” Salem said.
In addition, as part of the measures that were implemented during the past three
months, “five factories were shut down, and more than 1,000 workers were
relocated from 14 factories that were found violating Jordan’s labour laws, to
factories with better working conditions,” the ministry said.
“In addition, the immigration status of 1,300 illegal guest workers was
rectified in order to protect their full rights under labour laws.”
As communicated earlier to the AFL-CIO, an agreement has been reached with the
General Federation of Labour Unions to establish offices in the industrial zones
to work on promoting the protection of guest workers in Jordan by establishing
guest workers committees, the ministry added.
According to Salem, the government has already taken action with respect to
criminal prosecution of labour violations by referring two cases of abuse to the
prosecutor general.
The first, involved the abuse of Bangladeshi workers, and the second,
non-payment of wages and overtime to guest workers. The ministry added that
“more cases are under investigation by the prosecutor general.”
“Regrettably, the AFL-CIO and the NTA decided to file their case just days after
labour conditions in Jordan were vigorously scrutinised and further remedial
steps were agreed upon prior and during the third joint committee meeting of the
Jordan-US Free Trade Agreement, held in Amman recently,” the government
statement said.
“We value the contributions of foreign guest workers to our economic development
and we will continue to take all necessary steps to improve working conditions
in Jordan,” the statement concluded.
The QIZ agreement with the US, signed in 1997, came out of the 1994 peace treaty
with Israel and entitles products produced in the zones to both duty-free and
quota-free access to the American market as long as they have a specified
Jordanian-Israeli input.
As result of the QIZ deal and the Jordan-US FTA agreement, signed in December
2001, the country’s exports to the US have risen from $13 million in 1999 to
$1.3 billion in 2005.