Daily wage workers in Jordan seek full-time appointment, better treatment

AMMAN — A labour union has called for resolving the issue of around 6,000 daily wage workers at municipalities by appointing them on full-time basis and giving them the same incentives granted to public employees.

Head of the independent union for municipality labourers, Ahmad Saadi said that the dilemma of the 6,000 daily wage earners at municipalities and other public institutions need to be resolved, explaining that their appointment “will not drain the state budget because each municipality has its own independent budget.”

“This is a vital issue, we have been committed to all the rules of the Defence Orders and our national duties throughout the coronavirus crisis, but now as raises and bonuses are back on the table, we demand official recruitment of daily wage workers in municipalities,” Saadi said in a statement carried by the Phenix Centre for Economic Studies.

Saadi added that day workers have been only been receiving promises by the government to resolve their issue, explaining that a committee formed in 2014 recommended that they be appointed on full-time basis.

The union leader said that the day labourers would adopt escalatory measures to press for their demand should their call for better incentives remain unmet.

Economist Sami Shraim was quoted in the statement as calling for a solution for the issue of daily wage workers, calling on the government to support municipalities’ budget to be able to appoint them on full-time basis.

“Even if they [municipalities] have not sufficient finances to recruit the workers, the govvernment is required to support them to do so,”he added.

Several daily wage labourers were quoted in the statement as complaining about not receiving bonuses, annual and sick leaves and being unable to take bank loans as they are not considered employees.