Jordan Labor Watch - labor policy experts warned against the amending the definition of labor dispute in article 2 of the Labor Code which is currently considered before the Parliamentary Committee for Labor, Social Development and Population.
The amendment proposed removing the phrase "group of workers" from the text of the article, to become "any dispute between the workers on one hand and the employer or the employers' union on the other hand about the application or interpretation of a collective labor contract or related to work conditions”.
The proposed text limits "the dispute between unions and employers, and neglect workers without trade unions", according to those experts.
"The vast majority of workers in Jordan have no unions, and their conflicts with employers must be treated as labor disputes in order to apply the labor law," said activist Hala Ahed. " there is no justification for amending the definition of labor dispute in the original law. " "With regard to article 2 on the concept of labor dispute, the temporary law removed the phrase" group of workers "from the text that originally provided " any dispute between a group of workers or a union on one hand and an employer or employers' union on the other hand bout the application or interpretation of a collective labor contract or related to work conditions) shall remain as it was previously in order to be consistent with the definition of "collective labor contract" in the same article.
"The previous text also provides protection to workers and their representatives who do not have a union and have disagreements about working conditions with employers, as the vast majority of workers in Jordan are deprived of the right to form trade unions."
For his part, the director of the Jordanian Labor watch Ahmed Awad pointed out that "limiting the concept of labor dispute in Article 2 of the Labor Law to only trade unions representing workers, would deprive 95% of workers in Jordan of their right to allow the Ministry of Labor to intervene to redress them”.
He added that if the ministry does not interfere there will be imbalance between the parties of the conflict and will be biased in favor of employers, "noting that" the article itself recognizes that the parties to the labor dispute are employers or trade unions and employers, and therefore why deprive employees of the same right? Why are not unions or workers' representatives able to represent themselves and engage in a negotiating and conflict situation? " "95% of the workers in Jordan do not have trade unions, and the concept of a collective contract between employers and workers is signed between workers and their representatives and between employers and their representatives.
Thus, if the term" group of workers "is deleted from article 2, Means that the article will contradict the concept of collective contract. " "This will create significant distortions in labor relations, and there will be dozens, if not hundreds, of labor disputes out of control, so it is important to refer to the old law so that any dispute between workers or their unions with employers be considered as labor dispute, and therefore workers have the right to let the Ministry of Labor interfere and use the available means to resolve differences on working conditions.
"This is also related to the change of articles on trade union regulation because, as long as the law forbids workers from establishing free trade unions, and also to deprive them of bargaining in the event of labor disputes, this will distort labor relations in favor of employers against the interests of workers, and will promotes instability in labor relations. "
The deputy head of the independent trade unions in Jordan, Ahmed Mari, strongly criticized amending this article, stressing the need to push towards keeping it.
He pointed out that "many unions do not do their duty towards the workers, and most of them pursue their personal interests, and do not pay attention to the demands of workers, so the law should leave the space for workers to defend their rights."
He stressed that "most sectors in Jordan do not have unions representing them," adding that "the workers have the ability to represent themselves, in light of the deterioration of the trade union situation in Jordan."