Labor Watch - More than 50 civil society organizations and labor organizations on Monday launched a campaign calling for fundamental amendments on the revised labor law, which is currently before the Senate after being approved by the House of Representatives.
These organizations confirm that some amendments of the law conflict with the Jordanian Constitution and do not provide adequate protection for workers, especially with regard to the workers' rights in organizing themselves as trade unions and the right of collective bargaining.
The press release issued by the campaign said that in recent months, several organizations, civil society organizations and labor unions, have tried to emphasize that the essence of the labor law should be to give workers the right to organize and bargain collectively by allowing them to form trade unions which is a right guaranteed in the Jordanian Constitution, as guaranteed by the international conventions ratified by Jordan for decades, but this right is restricted in the labor law, thus restricting the exercise of this right for only 17 trade unions and depriving the rest of the workers of the freedom to establish and choose the unions they want to establish or Join.
The statement said: "Although the articles open in the Labor Code the 39 articles, including articles on trade union organization such as article 98, as well as articles 44, 2 and 116, but unfortunately the amendments have been made, and instead of becoming more considerate and equitable for workers they restricted their liberty.
The amendments of the articles on the definition of the labor dispute and collective bargaining will negatively affect the future of labor relations and working conditions in Jordan and will force workers to further protests because of the closure of the doors to dialogue and collective bargaining."
The first activity of the campaign, which will extend for several months, organized an electronic storm by the name of free trade union organization, which included hundreds of messages published by hundreds on their accounts on social media sites demanding the relevant parties to make amendments on the labor law to guarantee workers' rights.