The Jordan Labor Watch confirmed that the approval of the draft system for private offices to employ Jordanians inside and outside the Kingdom for the year 2023, published on the website of the Bureau of Legislation and Opinion, will create a decline in working conditions.
In a statement issued today, Sunday, the Jordan Labor Watch affiliated with the Phenix Center for Economic and Informatics Studies believed that the endorsing of this system will open the door wide open to violations and illegal practices in many sectors in which workers will be employed.
Jordan Labor Watch explained that this system was issued under Article 10 of the Labor Law, which was negatively amended last April.
These negative amendments allows the Ministry of Labor to contract with any party inside or outside the Kingdom for this purpose, or to license companies specialized in a specific activity that employ Jordanian workers working for it, and contract with employers to supply them with those workers, and companies with goals to mediate in order to employ Jordanians inside and outside the Kingdom.
Jordan Labor Watch stated that these amendments will lead to expanding the circle of violations in the sectors in which male and female workers will be employed through recruitment offices, as there are many major companies that have recently become dependent on companies called “business development” or “support” that recruit workers throughout intermediary offices with indecent working conditions, aiming to reduce expenses and depriving their workers of social protections, incentives, additional benefits, and wages that ensure a decent life for them.
Jordan Labor Watch indicated that the draft system does not include any text guaranteeing the rights of male and female workers when they are employed inside or outside the Kingdom, but in return it includes the amounts (service allowance) that the owner of the recruitment office collects from the worker once hired.
During the monitoring of Jordan Labor Watch to this area, it noticed a large wage gap between workers in the same job and tasks in support companies and major companies, despite the fact that they are doing the same tasks and in the same facility. In addition to depriving them from the rights and benefits enjoyed by their colleagues who carry out the same tasks and in the same facilities.
Job stability does not exist in the business environment in many companies operating through intermediary offices, as their workers are vulnerable to suspension and punishment at any time, without reliable internal systems.
The Jordan Labor Watch believed that adopting a plan to reduce expenses by reducing workers’ wages will only produce poor workers, which will increase poverty rates and the economic gap amongst the of workers categories in the same job and task.
The Jordan Labor Watch attributed the persistance of companies operating through intermediary offices in practicing all of these violations to the absence of union umbrellas that protect workers’ rights and defend them, or play the role of collective bargaining and managing peaceful workers’ protests.
The Jordan Labor Watch called for the necessity of not endorsing the system unless they make amendments to it that ensures the protection of the rights of male and female workers once hired, whether inside or outside the Kingdom.
The Jordan Labor Watch also called on the relevant competent governmental agencies to intensify inspections and monitoring on companies recruiting workers through intermediary offices, especially the concluded employment contracts.