Jordan Labor Watch- A garment factory in Al Hassan Industrial City dismissed 340 Jordanian girls after the factory decided to close down due to high costs and lack of orders in the past six months.
The factory management has been contacting the Ministry of Labor for months to start the liquidation procedures, the factory administration, in accordance to the labor law, gave three months' salaries to about 150 girls who have less than four years of service. In addition, the ministry has set up a committee to estimate compensation for women workers who serve more than four years. The factory has been operating in the city for 22 years and was mainly depending on local labor. However, the absence of orders for manufacturing, in addition to the high cost of production prevented its continuation, the management pointed that they do own many factories in the Egypt, in addition to fierce competition from other countries.
Article 31 of the Labor Law states in paragraph (a): The Employer may terminate all or part of the unlimited period work contracts or suspend same if the economic or technical circumstances necessitate such termination or suspension such as decreasing the volume of work or replacing the production regulation by another one or permanent stoppage of work provided that the Ministry is notified thereof.
According to a number of workers, they spent more than 15 years in the factory and receive salaries of up to 230 dinars, and are subscribed with social security and have health insurance, in addition to providing them with transportation to their homes, pointing out that many factories currently refuse to employ them because their ages exceeds 50 years, and the factories refused to calculate years of experience.
One of them, who preferred anonymity, pointed out that the majority of female workers took loans from banks calling on the Ministry of Labor to intervene and find them jobs in other factories with the same privileges, especially that some of them only need few more years to reach early retirement age.