The ratification of the amendments in the Jordanian Labour Law on Sunday sparked a wave of controversy and discontent among the trade unions and workers because of the provisions contained in it, which violate the rights of trade unions and affect the freedom of establishing trade unions in a clear step that infringes the provisions of the constitution and the international labour standards.
Those concerned with labour and trade union affairs considered that the law lacked the real understanding of the reasons for the emergence of trade unions, which should not be government unions, and that the state should not interfere with the unions.
The law was the result of the absolute legislative domination of the state, which made it a violation of freedoms that functions as a tool to suppress the trade union freedoms, and made the labour file as a security file par excellence, as it reflected the dominance of employers in the decision-making circles, and their great impact in drafting it. However, the workers are the weakest part in the productive process, as a result, their intimidation and exploitation has become very common.
Our sources confirmed that the recent amendment of the law abolished the right of the gathering of any group of workers to defend their rights and interests outside their unions. In fact, this right is granted only to trade unions. However, 94% of the workers in Jordan do not have unions to represent them (only 90 000 workers in Jordan are part of trade unions) while the working class in Jordan is about 1.5 million workers. This means that 94% of the workers are deprived of their right to defend their interests, and prove again the fact that they are the weakest part in this equation, especially the same thing is repeated in provision 44 of the amendments of the law, which is related to the public meetings, and stipulates that any group of workers is deprived of their right to have regular meetings with their employer to discuss their working conditions.
Through Article 58, the law is in favour of employers at the expense of the worker, which makes it a tool for labour exploitation. For instance, the large bus drivers who work in tourism and transport companies, are required to transport people internally and externally because of the nature of their work. Using this provision, the owners and administrations of these companies started to inhumanly force the drivers to work for more than 18 continuous hours without a rest and without being even paid for it, which threatens their lives and the passengers’.
On the other hand, the amendments violated the Jordanian constitution, when the law granted the minister the right to decide whether to establish trade unions or not, in violation of Article 23/2, as it restricts the freedom of trade unions approved by the constitution. There is also a flagrant violation of Article 128/1 related to the invalidity of legislating laws that would affect the basic rights. This amended law clearly violates these rights and restricts freedoms. In fact, the previous text of the law before being amended in 2010 stipulated that establishing trade unions is the decision of the minister.
It is noteworthy that the decision of the Constitutional Court No. 6/2013, which was based on the provisions of the Constitution and the International Covenants, gave the right to all workers in the public sector to freely organize themselves as trade unions. However, this decision is still unimplemented by the executive authority.
Many observers considered that Article 98 of the amended law is contrary to the most basic rights, such as the right to organize it is an explicit violation of the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights, which was ratified by Jordan 12 years ago and which is part of the Jordanian laws in force.
#amendments #Jordan #Labour_Law #violations #Trade_Union_freedoms #international_labour_standards
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