The Jordanian Labor Watch demanded that private sector enterprises be required to reduce the working hours of their workers to ease the pressure on them during the month of Ramadan, just like their government counterparts.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the Jordanian Labor Watch of the Phenix Center for Economic and Information Studies condemned the government's continued treatment of private sector workers with a clear discriminatory methodology, as the Ministry of Labor issued a statement indicating that the communication issued by the Council of Ministers regarding the reduction of working hours for workers during the holy month of Ramadan does not include workers in the private sector.
Jordanian Labor Watch believes that this decision will harm the interests of workers in the private sector, especially since all workers in Jordan, in both the public and private sectors, face the same conditions and challenges regarding the nature of work during Ramadan, whether related to the transportation system or the consequences of fasting.
The Jordanian Labor Watch emphasized that leaving the organization of working hours for private sector workers during the month of Ramadan to their management will expose large sectors of workers in this sector to difficult working conditions, unlike those in the public sector.
The Jordan Labor Watch pointed out that these discriminatory policies between public and private sector workers would deepen labor market imbalances and push the majority of job seekers to pressure the government to hire them in the public sector, considering that working conditions in the public sector are better than in the private sector, which is inconsistent with the directions of the labor policies advocated by the government, which encourage workers to engage in the private sector.
The Jordanian Labor Watch stressed its concern about the clear and overt discrimination between employees, in violation of international standards that emphasize the importance of equality in the work environment.
The Jordanian Labor Watch explained that the continuation of this approach hinders the Jordanian state, its institutions, and civil society organizations from achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, including Goal 8 on promoting the economy and decent work and Goal 10 on reducing inequality within and between countries.