AMMAN - Investors, employers and unionists on Wednesday said they were satisfied with the proposed amendments to the current Labour Law, but these changes, they said, stopped short of meeting all their demands.
The Cabinet on Tuesday approved a new version of the Labour Law, which aims to better regulate the recruitment and employment of non-Jordanian labourers and protect workers' rights. The draft law allows guest workers to join trade unions. It also intensifies penalties on recruitment agencies that violate labour regulations.
President of the General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU) Mazen Maaytah told The Jordan Times yesterday that the amendments meet international labour standards and give a wider freedom margin for trade unions to regulate the sector.
"The new version of the law abolished all provisions that gave the Labour Ministry the authority to interfere in the trade unions' affairs," Maaytah said, citing as another positive change a provision that requires top executives of establishments employing more than 25 labourers to sit three times a year with workers' representatives to discuss their demands and other affairs.
Meanwhile, Maaytah said he expects at least 150,000 guest workers to benefit from the article allowing them to join trade unions, out of around 350,000-400,000 Arab and foreign workers in the Kingdom.
But these new members are not entitled to run for or vote in union elections.
"The GFTU insisted on a full membership in the unions to be granted to this group of workers, but our request was turned down by Parliament. Nevertheless, we are satisfied with this progress," the unionist added.
Employers had also hoped for more.
Samir Maqdah, CEO of the CJC Clothing Company, said the ministry was "selective in adopting the amendments to the law".
"Although we were consulted with regards to the changes to the law, there are other issues that should have been discussed with us such as re-identification of unfair dismissal, inspection and articles governing work stoppage and penalties," Maqdah told The Jordan Times, adding that they forwarded to the ministry a list of suggestions regarding the current law as early as January 2007.
He added that their meetings with ministry officials over the Labour Law used to focus on points raised by the ministry, while their proposals were excluded from the agendas.
Despite their participation in the discussions, President of the General Trade Union of Workers in Textile Industries Fathallah Emrani said they did not have access to the final draft that was endorsed by the government on Tuesday.
An example of a suggestion ignored by the government was the establishment of a labour court to look into labour disputes. "Such a court could rule on labour issues within a period not exceeding 30 days. There are some cases under consideration by local courts of first instance for years and still have not solved," Emrani said.
By Hani Hazaimeh
© Jordan Times 2009
