Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08AMMAN902
2008-03-25 16:06:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Amman
Cable title:  

GOJ WORKING TO REPATRIATE STRIKING VIETNAMESE

Tags:  ELAB PHUM SMIG JO VN 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0003
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAM #0902/01 0851606
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 251606Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY AMMAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2118
INFO RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI PRIORITY 0034
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 000902 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR G/TIP, DRL, PRM
ALSO FOR NEA/ELA, EAP, AND INL
STATE PASS TO USTR
LABOR FOR ILAB/RUDE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/25/2018
TAGS: ELAB PHUM SMIG JO VN
SUBJECT: GOJ WORKING TO REPATRIATE STRIKING VIETNAMESE
WORKERS

REF: A. HANOI 309

B. HATTAYER-TAYLOR/ANZALDUA E-MAIL OF MARCH 11

C. GREENE-TAYLOR E-MAIL OF MARCH 3

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

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 000902

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR G/TIP, DRL, PRM
ALSO FOR NEA/ELA, EAP, AND INL
STATE PASS TO USTR
LABOR FOR ILAB/RUDE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/25/2018
TAGS: ELAB PHUM SMIG JO VN
SUBJECT: GOJ WORKING TO REPATRIATE STRIKING VIETNAMESE
WORKERS

REF: A. HANOI 309

B. HATTAYER-TAYLOR/ANZALDUA E-MAIL OF MARCH 11

C. GREENE-TAYLOR E-MAIL OF MARCH 3

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


1. (C) Summary: Jordan's Ministry of Labor is actively
working with 176 striking Vietnamese workers, the
International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the
Government of Vietnam (GVN) to resolve any impediments to
their voluntary return from Jordan to Vietnam. Minister of
Labor Salem is frustrated at GVN negotiators presently in
Amman who oppose IOM involvement in a solution, and fears
that a solution excluding IOM will leave the perception that
the GOJ is party to trafficking. The GOJ retrieved the
workers' passports from factory management on March 20, and
will return them to workers in the coming days as
arrangements for repatriation are finalized. The MOL
welcomes IOM assistance in facilitating a voluntary
repatriation of workers who want to return to Vietnam.
Negotiations over IOM's role and logistical arrangements for
the return of workers between the three parties: the GOJ, the
GVN, and IOM continue. Department may wish to suggest to
Embassy Hanoi that the GVN be approached about its position
regarding IOM involvement. End Summary.


2. (C) Minister of Labor Bassem Salem told Ambassador Hale on
March 25 that his ministry is working energetically to
resolve the situation of the striking Vietnamese workers.
During the Ambassador's call to Salem, the Minister expressed
frustration with GVN representatives who backed out of a deal
that would involve IOM in facilitating the voluntary
repatriation of the striking Vietnamese workers who want to
return home.


3. (SBU) Ministry of Labor Advisor Lejo Sibbel told poloff on
March 25 that negotiations with workers, factory management,
the IOM, and GVN were well underway to allow for the
voluntary repatriation of the 176 striking Vietnamese workers
at the W & D Apparel Company in the al-Tajamouat Qualifying
Industrial Zone (QIZ) in Sahab. Sibbel confirmed that the

GOJ retrieved the passports of 158 workers previously held by
management on March 20, and would return them once
arrangements for their return home had been made. NOTE: On
or about February 13, factory management reportedly attempted
to return the passports to striking workers, but after
returning only 18 passports, a melee ensued, and management
took control of the bag of remaining passports. END NOTE.


4. (SBU) Sibbel also told poloff that the GVN delegation
remains in Jordan negotiating an agreement for repatriation.
Mr. Boi, a former Vietnamese ambassador and currently a
Vietnamese MFA Deputy Director General, is the delegation
head and primary negotiator. According to Sibbel, workers
have agreed to be voluntarily repatriated in groups (vice a
previous offer from the GVN to provide a charter flight).
The GVN is making commercial travel arrangements, and workers
could depart Jordan by the end of the week. Sibbel hoped
that all workers could be returned to Vietnam by April 1.


5. (SBU) Before departing Jordan, the Jordanian MOL would
undertake several steps to ensure the rights of the workers:
(1) the MOL will return their passports; (2) the MOL will ask
them to sign a written statement confirming that they are
leaving Jordan voluntarily; and (3) the MOL will verify that
factory management has paid workers any and all back wages,
outstanding annual leave, or other benefits to which they
might be entitled.


6. (C) Sibbel and local IOM trafficking expert Theodora
Suter explained to poloff that the GOJ has requested IOM
support in arranging for the repatriation of the striking
workers. Suter said that IOM is prepared to assist with
arranging for logistics such as transport and to provide
medical screening. According to Suter, GVN representatives
told their office in Hanoi that they would not/not formally
request IOM assistance. Sibbel lamented this development,
and said the GOJ would welcome an IOM role to provide greater
transparency. Sibbel confided that although he is confident
that the GOJ can manage the logistics of the repatriations,
he believes that critics and interested parties abroad would
have greater confidence in the voluntary nature of the
repatriation with an active IOM role. Sibbel encouraged the
USG to work with the GVN to put forward such a request.


7. (SBU) Suter noted that in light of the lack of a request

from the GVN, but clear indications of support from the GOJ,
the IOM Amman office would discuss the matter further when
the IOM Chief of Mission returns on March 26. Suter praised
the Jordanian MOL for the seriousness and professionalism
with which it has addressed the issue thus far. She further
promised to keep the embassy apprised of IOM's decisions.

BACKGROUND
--------------


8. (SBU) On February 10, approximately 261 workers in the W &
D Apparel factory of al-Tajamouat QIZ went on strike
protesting wage payments that they believed differed from the
contracts they signed with recruiting agents in Vietnam.
According to the Jordanian MOL, the workers did not provide
the 14-day notice required by the Jordanian labor code, and
therefore their strike was illegal under Jordanian law.
According to workers, management made the workers two
counter-offers, which 85 of the striking workers accepted and
returned to work.


9. (SBU) On February 20, striking workers assaulted those
workers who chose to return to work and destroyed their
personal property. To restore order, factory management
called the Jordanian Public Security Directorate (PSD) and
violence between striking workers and the PSD ensued.


10. (SBU) Following altercations with the police, IOM Amman
provided doctors to attend to the medical treatment of
striking workers on February 27. According to IOM and MOL
representatives, their examinations revealed bruises, but no
broken bones. Vietnamese workers confirmed to Polcouns
during his March 1 visit to the QIZ that PSD action against
striking workers was prompted by worker-on-worker violence.
By the time of this visit, the physical conditions had
stabilized; non-striking workers returned to the assembly
line, and striking workers remained on strike and looking for
greater concessions or the opportunity to go home. MOL
requested an independent investigation by the PSD into the
use of force, but had not received a report as of March 25.


11. (SBU) On March 1, striking and non-striking workers told
Embassy Amman's Vietnamese-speaking Polcouns (ref C) that
their primary issue with management was a discrepancy in the
payment of their wages and the amount of overtime that
management made them work. Workers complained that they were
promised a fixed wage contract and management initiated a
scheme to provide piecework incentives to higher producing
workers. The MOL investigated the workers' claims of wage
inaccuracies, and determined that workers were being paid
according to the terms of their contracts and Jordanian Labor
Law - which requires deductions for income and social
security taxes and allows for other deductions provided they
are written into the contract.


12. (SBU) There is no Vietnamese diplomatic or consular
representation in Jordan. The Vietnamese Deputy Consul
General Tran Viet Tu, based in Cairo, first visited workers
on March 1. The GVN followed-up with a nine-member
delegation to Jordan beginning on March 10 consisting of
representatives of the MFA, MOL and Vietnamese recruiting
agencies (ref B). Member of that delegation remain in Jordan
to negotiate with workers and the GOJ.
HALE