WHERE HAVE ALL THE BANGLADESHIS GONE?

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 AMMAN 006886

SIPDIS

NOFORN
SIPDIS

STATE PASS TO USTR KARESH, AROSENBERG, JBUNTIN
STATE PASS TO DOL JRUDE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/30/2016
TAGS: ELAB ETRD PHUM GTIP KTEX JO IN BG
SUBJECT: WHERE HAVE ALL THE BANGLADESHIS GONE?

REF: A. AMMAN 4167

B. AMMAN 5595

Classified By: Ambassador David Hale for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: In an attempt to stem labor violations in
Jordan's Qualifying Industrial Zones (QIZs),the Ministry of
Labor (MoL) took an informal decision in late May to halt all
approvals of work permits for Bangladeshis and overturn any
previous approvals for Bangladeshis who had not yet traveled
to Jordan. The Indian Embassy took a decision in mid-August
to bar Indians from working in Jordan's QIZs by no longer
attesting new work permits for Indians. As a result of these
actions, individual QIZ factories with previous approvals for
Bangladeshi workers or those in immediate need of new foreign
workers say they are losing millions in revenue every month,
and are unable to meet previously contracted orders for
textile shipments. Complicating the problem, the MoL
recently issued a number of Bangladeshi work permits for
select factories, under pressure from textile business
owners. This inconsistent and non-transparent policy of
granting some factory owners permits to bring in Bangladeshis
is leading to accusations of corruption. A comprehensive
long-term solution to labor problems in Jordan will require a
more coordinated effort among ministries, the private-sector,
and worker rights' representatives. END SUMMARY.

NO MORE TROUBLE
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2. (C/NF) In late May, the Ministry of Labor took an informal
decision to prevent any new Bangladeshis from working in
Jordan's QIZs. Asked why, MoL contacts cited: a
preponderance of labor violations committed against
Bangladeshi workers, Bangladeshis comprising a majority of
the foreign workers with overstay fines, and evidence that
recruiters were charging Bangladeshis to come work in Jordan.
NOTE: Bangladeshis make up more then half of the 38,000
foreign work force in the QIZs. Additionally, since the
publication of the National Labor Committee report, organized
Bangladeshis have held work stoppages in numerous factories
demanding restitution for back wages and unpaid overtime
(reftel A). END NOTE. Asked August 27 when the ban would be
lifted, the MoL Advisor on QIZs gave econoff the vague
answer, "once the labor problem is fixed." NOTE: Post has
heard recent allegations from contacts at the MoL that the
Bangladeshi Embassy may be complicit in the labor problem.
Currently, the Bangladeshi mission includes two individuals:
an Ambassador and Third Secretary. The Third Secretary is
said by the MoL Secretary General and the Minister's Advisor
on QIZs to have a financial stake in a Jordan QIZ Factory,
and the Ambassador is accused by one MoL contact of being
complicit in facilitating Bangladeshi worker movements in
exchange for proceeds that the recruiting agencies charge
Bangladeshis to come to Jordan. None of these accusations
have been substantiated. END NOTE.


3. (C/NF) In a conversation with econoff August 18, Indian
Ambassador to Jordan R. Dayakar said his government had
decided to temporarily ban Indian citizens from taking up new
jobs in Jordan's QIZs. NOTE: This conversation with econoff
was a follow-up to a discussion in late June in which Dayakar
expressed concern about negative reports in Indian newspapers
about an Indian who had committed suicide in a Jordanian QIZ
factory. Reports alleged that the worker wanted to leave for
India, but was not granted access to his passport. The
Indian Embassy investigated the matter and met with the
factory owner. Though Ambassador Dayakar was worried about
the treatment of Indians in all QIZ factories at the time, he
told econoff he was satisfied in this particular case with
the factory owner's compensation to the deceased worker's
family ($14,000) and with the explanation that the worker's
depression and documented medical history of "mental

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instability" led him to suicide. END NOTE.


4. (C/NF) Asked why the ban on Indian labor was being imposed
at this time, Ambassador Dayakar said his government was
"still under a lot of public pressure" to do something about
perceived labor violations against Indians. Additionally,
the process by which an Indian is given permission to work in
Jordan requires an attestation of the potential employee's
character by the Indian Embassy. Concern that this
attestation could be perceived as an active role by the
Indian Embassy in the exploitation of workers is also
something the Indian Ambassador said he "wanted to get away
from."

EMPTY FLOORS, VACANT POSITIONS HURTING THE SECTOR
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5. (C) On August 28, econoff met with Hikmet Alpar Ozyakali,
factory manager of Sun Jordan II in the Ad-Dulayl Estate QIZ,
who complained of the negative impact the restriction on the
worker pool is having on the sector. Currently, Ozyakali has
500 Bangladeshi workers at his factory: 350 of whom he
brought in, 120 of whom the GoJ sent him in its recent worker
shifts (reftel B),and 30 who came on their own from other
factories in search of better work conditions. Ozyakali
claimed he has no labor violations and treats his workers
well. Ozyakali stated that he had an additional 300 approved
Bangladeshi work permits that were recently revoked by the
Ministry of Labor. Those workers were to replace workers in
Sun Jordan II and fill a new factory, Sun Jordan I. New
equipment and raw textiles are sitting on the ground at these
factories. According to Ozyakali, each factory is booked to
produce between $2 and $2.5 million monthly in textile
exports (25,000 units) for "The Limited/Express" brand.
Because work permits for the Bangladeshis he hoped to bring
have been blocked, Ozyakali shipped one month's worth of raw
textiles for one factory to Turkey for production. According
to Ozyakali, the 34% tariff costs in Turkey alone will cost
him approximately $500,000 which he is hoping the buyer will
partially cover.


6. (C) In search of a permanent solution to his labor
shortage problem, Ozyakali says he has been instructed by the
MoL to go to Sri Lanka to find workers because the
Bangladeshis he filed for previously have no chance of being
approved. Pursuing this option, Ozyakali says, will take at
least two months: two weeks to interview workers in Sri
Lanka, and six weeks for Jordan's security clearances to be
approved, costing him millions more in lost business.


7. (SBU) Asked whey he does not employ local Jordanians,
Ozyakali said he has some Jordanians in his factory but few
are willing to work in Ad-Dulayl, over a one-hour ride from
Zarqa, the closest large pool of Jordanian labor. Also, to
fill the factory lines, Ozyakali says he needs 300 workers at
once; piecemeal labor will not work in the short-term.
Ozyakali said his willingness to raise his bank guarantee
from 90,000 JD to 500,000 JD (127,000 USD to 705,000 USD) and
his pledge to pay overstay fees for any foreign workers have
fallen on deaf ears at the Ministry of Labor. What irks him
even more, he says, is that he knows other factories are
getting small numbers of work permits for Bangladeshis. This
practice, he argues, suggests corruption.


8. (C) In an August 30 phone conversation with econoff,
"Jones NY" compliance specialist Kasava Murali (based in
Jordan) said the decision to ban Bangladeshi workers could
have a major negative impact on the QIZ sector. NOTE: Jones
accounts for nearly 20% of all textile export purchases from
Jordan's QIZs, and is the only buyer to have a permanent
social compliance officer on the ground. To date, the
company has not cut back on orders, citing a long-term
commitment to Jordan. By placing a permanent representative

AMMAN 00006886 003 OF 004


on the ground, their hope is to work with factories from
which they source and help bring them up to international
labor standards. Jones NY is negotiating an agreement with
Solidarity Center to help build union committees in factories
that will better organize foreign workers. END NOTE.
Murali, with joint responsibility for Jones in Egypt, said
that the QIZ textile sector there had doubled in the last
year, and that policies like the Bangladeshi worker ban would
only accelerate that growth. NOTE: Separately, Murali said,
Egypt "is the next Jordan in terms of the NLC report." Labor
violations there against Egyptian workers are, according to
Murali, "waiting to blow up." END NOTE.


9. (U) A report August 30 in Al-Ghad, an independent daily,
highlighted the business impact that a shortage of foreign
workers is creating for the economy. According to the
Al-Ghad report, the Irbid Chamber of Industry estimates the
labor shortage in the Al-Hassan QIZ to be 3,000 workers. The
report states that the labor shortage "is harming investments
and is causing factory owners to consider closing down."

GOVERNMENT FOREIGN WORKER TAP CORRODED
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10. (C) In a discussion with econoff on August 29, MoL
Advisor on QIZs Khawla Al-Hassan (protect) expressed her
frustration with the Bangladeshi worker ban policy.
Accepting that the policy was not a smart approach and a "lot
of good factories are now empty and suffering economically,"
she said there is little clear indication that the policy is
going to change. NOTE: Decisions about which factories
receive work permits, and how many, are made by a committee
comprised of three MoL representatives and one Jordan
Investment Board (JIB) representative seconded to the MoL.
This committee was established after the NLC report was
published in order to demonstrate transparency. According to
Hassan, prior to the establishment of the committee, factory
owners or Jordanians with influence would seek permission
from the Minister of Labor or Secretary General who would
sign any requests for foreign workers an individual
submitted. END NOTE.


11. (C/NF) Hassan used the Bangladeshi worker ban policy to
exemplify what she considers a widening labor problem.
Hassan accused the MoL Secretary General of being corrupt,
taking financial gain from factory owners, and instructing
the committee to grant those companies work permits for
Bangladeshis. According to Hassan, instead of a transparent
committee using an open international formula of granting 2.5
workers permits for every machine that a factory has, the
committee issues an inconsistent number of work permits and
also to Bangladeshis - in violation of its own ban. To her,
this suggests incompetence and outside influence.
Compounding the problem, the Ministry of Interior has yet to
approve the 1,000 worker movements that the MoL conducted.
This hold-up has forced the MoL to suspend the movement of
another 1,000 who are presumably suffering in bad labor
conditions. NOTE: Hassan is also the main lead at the MoL
for handling worker complaints in the QIZs. Part of her
frustration may be tied to slow actions she sees on
prosecuting labor violators. As a result, she is having a
difficult time dealing with more and more reported cases of
labor violations. This week alone, she cited 13 Chinese
women who are being deported against their will after filing
a complaint with the MoL last week, 26 Sri Lankan women who
complained of sexual harassment, bad food, and no wages and
who are sleeping in the labor offices at Ad-Dulayl estate,
and 55 Bangladeshi workers who Hassan says she is being
forced to deport because she feels the Bangladeshi Embassy
attempted to exploit the MoL's plan to move them from a bad
factory for financial gain.


12. (C) COMMENT: While it is difficult to distinguish the

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wheat from the chaff as everyone levels corruption charges
against one another, the negative economic impact of barring
certain foreign workers in the QIZs is evident. Poor means
of coordinating work permit issuance with the Ministry of
Interior also contributes to the inability to bring in other
foreign workers in a timely manner. As a result, vague
regulation and lack of clear communication by the government
are leading some in the private sector to resort to desperate
means to obtain workers.


13. (C) Caught off-guard with the NLC report, the
government's response to labor problems has been and remains
reactive. In chasing after each individual fire, not enough
attention has been paid to the possibility that certain GoJ
actions are actually stoking a larger labor problem. Almost
all of the responsibility to fix the problem has been given
(or taken) by the Minister of Labor. Long-term solutions
will require more then one stakeholder, and a long-term
vision which involves active inter-ministry cooperation, as
well as an open line of communication with the private sector
and worker rights' organizations.
HALE