Jordan Seeing More Illegal and Violent Strikes in QIZ

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 004991

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR EEB/TPP/ABT, NEA/ELA, NEA/RA, DRL, G/TIP
STATE PASS TO USTR (CMILLER, AROSENBERG, LKARESH)
COMMERCE FOR ITA/OTEXA MARIA D'ANDREA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON ELAB ETRD EAID KTEX JO
SUBJECT: Jordan Seeing More Illegal and Violent Strikes in QIZ
Factories

REF: A) Amman 4166

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION OUTSIDE USG.


1. (SBU) Jordan's garment factories in the Qualifying Industrial
Zones (QIZ's) have been experiencing strikes five to six times a
month, often led by Bengali workers, according to the Jordanian
Ministry of Labor (MOL). MOL inspectors have seen strikes become
more "illegal" in nature, normally occurring without the prior
notice required by law, and revolving around demands outside the
Jordanian government's control or scope of the law, such as the
firing of supervisors or salary increases above the minimum wage.
Another trend is the increasing use of violence, including threats
to set fire to factories, or holding management hostage. The issue
of pending overstay fines, which the Labor Minister said would soon
be resolved, has been a main cause for strikes and raised concerns
of potential human rights problems. End Summary.

More "Illegal" and Violent Strikes
--------------


2. (SBU) On December 9, the MOL Inspections Directorate told Emboffs
that strikes occur in the QIZ's about five to six times a month,
some lasting a day, others weeks. NOTE: The number of striking
workers varies depending on the source. For example, in one case,
local press reported 600-1,200 striking workers, while the New
York-based National Labor Committee (NLC) has claimed as many as
3,000. END NOTE. Bengali workers, in particular, have been seen as
the primary instigators of strikes (Ref A). Strikes are also
increasingly "illegal" according to the GOJ, in part because the
workers often have failed to give the prior 14-day notice required
by law.


3. (SBU) MOL has found many of the recent demands to be
unreasonable and out of its control. As a USAID-funded MOL Advisor
explained, many of the foreign workers have come to believe that the
GOJ will intervene on their behalf even if the issue goes beyond the
scope of the local labor law. For example, Chinese workers at one
factory went on strike demanding raises to account for exchange rate
fluctuations, given that both the Jordanian dinar and the Chinese
yuan are pegged to the weakening U.S. dollar. Dana Bayyat,
Executive Director of CCKM Apparel, confirmed that her factory had a
strike in October in which the Bengali workers demanded that their
production manager, whom they elected, be fired and deported (Ref
A). She ended up sending the supervisor home in order to resume
business.


4. (SBU) One board member of Jordan's garment association (JGATE)
told an anecdote from her factory, where over 90% of employees are
Bangladeshi, of a foreign worker who had received a minor cut on his
finger that barely scratched the surface. After receiving treatment
and a band-aid from the factory doctor, the worker demanded to see a
medical specialist or else he would call her American buyers. He
backed down and apologized after she offered him her phone to place
the call. She said that many of the foreign workers, believing that
the factory management has been scared by previous NLC allegations
of labor violations, will make unreasonable demands by holding up
NLC reports and saying that "they know who to call."


5. (SBU) MOL also indicated that another new trend is the resort to
violence. Bangladeshi workers have threatened to set fire to
factories. They have also attacked and held hostage supervisors,
foreign Embassy officials, and/or MOL inspectors, as was the case
with the strike at Cotton Craft factory (Ref A).


6. (SBU) Most recently, six workers from DK Factory were arrested
for allegedly assaulting their company's production manager and
incited workers to sabotage the company's properties. After the NLC
issued a November 26 report on the case, the MOL posted a response
on its website, correcting inaccuracies in the NLC report regarding
the working conditions, and requested that the National Center for
Human Rights (NCHR) conduct an independent investigation into the
allegations against the local police. NCHR issued a December 17
report on its investigation, noting the local police had arrested
the workers on November 10 after they attacked the production
manager a second time. The manager subsequently dropped the
charges, and authorities detained the workers without trial for over
a month under the Crime Prevention Law. Following the NCHR report,
the GOJ released and waived overstay fines for the workers, who left
Jordan on December 15. Labor Minister Bassem Salem criticized
inaccuracies in NLC reports, but admitted to the Ambassador December
17 that in this instance, the report prompted the GOJ to take
immediate action.

Lagging Regularization Process Causing Problems

AMMAN 00004991 002.3 OF 002


-------------- --


7. (SBU) One issue causing tension within the QIZ factories is the
lagging regularization process. In August, with JGATE's assistance,
MOL issued temporary worker permits to over 6,000 QIZ foreign
workers. Many of these workers could not get permanent worker or
residency permits because they had accrued overstay fines of 1.5 JD
($2.12) per day for every day that they were "illegally" in Jordan.
NOTE: Any expatriate in Jordan out of legal status accrues the 1.5
JD/day overstay fine, which must be paid before departure. END
NOTE. In some cases, fines accrued because the GOJ did not process
the paperwork in a timely fashion after having transferred workers
from closed-down factories to new factories after the May 2006 NLC
report. In other cases, the factory management had not presented
the proper paperwork.


8. (SBU) Several months ago, MOL proposed to the Ministry of
Interior that approximately JD 6 million (USD 8.5 million) in
overstay fines for these workers be waived, in order to let the
regularization process proceed. In about 400 cases, some companies
would be required to pay reduced fines of about JD 500 (USD 706) per
person, which were deemed legitimate by MOL. The Ministry of Labor
has noted that the lost revenue would be made up in the first two
years, as workers would have to pay fees initially to get residency
and work permits, and then again a year later to extend the permits.



9. (SBU) Salem told the Ambassador on September 26, that he
expected the Minister of Interior to approve the proposal to waive
the fines, and that no USG intervention was needed. The Ambassador
reiterated U.S. concerns December 17, and Salem assured him that the
Minister of Interior agreed with the concept, and that the two
ministries were verifying final numbers before submitting the
proposal to the Cabinet. Salem expected resolution by the end of
the year.


10. (SBU) Pending final resolution, MOL previously extended work
permits until December 15, and plans to do it again. In cases of
people wanting to return to their home country, there is a mechanism
for the worker to apply for a waiver through MOL to MOI. The NCHR
has also reported to the Embassy a high rate of success in receiving
waivers directly through MOL, such that MOL is now referring pending
cases to NCHR for action. Approximately 146 people have used this
procedure, and of those, about 40-50 were approved by MOI. The rest
of the cases, however, have not yet been settled.


11. (SBU) As a board member of JGATE, Bayyat has been trying to
press this issue with the GOJ, noting that it has the potential to
become a human rights and forced labor issue. Even in cases where
the worker does not want to return home, she said that workers do
not feel comfortable traveling within or outside the country with
only a temporary worker permit.

Need for New Labor Law
--------------


12. (SBU) At a December 13 lunch with JGATE, board members noted
that they were also looking forward to a new labor law, still
pending Cabinet approval (septel). They noted that parts of the
current law were vague, which contributed to confusion when the MOL
and police arrived at the scene of a strike. Although they believe
the draft labor law is already a bit outdated, all agreed it
represented a significant improvement over the existing legal
framework. All also concurred that factories need to uphold
international labor standards and enforce local labor laws.

Visit Amman's Classified Website at:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman

Hale