LABOR MINISTER ASSURES FOCUS ON PROMOTING LABOR

UNCLAS AMMAN 000706 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/ELA, GTIP E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ELAB ECON ETRD KTEX JO SUBJECT: LABOR MINISTER ASSURES FOCUS ON PROMOTING LABOR RIGHTS AND COMBATING TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REF: A. AMMAN 429 ¶B. AMMAN 226 ¶C. 08 AMMAN 3359 ¶D. 08 AMMAN 2206 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Minister of Labor Ghazi Shbeikat promised a strong focus on promoting labor rights and combating trafficking in persons (TIP) during a March 10 courtesy call with the Ambassador. The Minister expects that the remaining 36 amendments to the labor law, including a revised article to allow foreign workers to join unions, will be placed on the agenda for the parliament's extraordinary session in May or June 2009 (ref D). He highlighted Jordan's passage of an anti-TIP law as a positive step forward, and assured that the Government of Jordan (GOJ) would continue to work on establishing a joint police-inspection unit and creating a shelter for TIP victims. Given the negative effects of the global economic crisis on the garment industry in Jordan, Shbeikat mentioned that the government was looking at temporary measures to support the sector through this difficult economic period. The Minister indicated he would like to visit the U.S. at an appropriate time in the near future, which would be an opportunity for informing relevant U.S. parties about Jordan's efforts to improve working conditions and protect labor rights. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) Newly appointed in February 2009, Labor Minister Shbeikat stressed that the Ministry would focus even more on promoting labor rights under his leadership. Indicating that labor rights would also be a priority for the current U.S. administration, the Ambassador urged the GOJ to submit the remaining labor law amendments to parliament, including an amendment that would give foreign workers the right to unionize and receive full representation rights. Shbeikat responded that the Ministry of Labor (MOL) planned to propose to the Prime Minister on March 11 that the remaining labor law amendments be submitted to parliament during its extraordinary session, tentatively scheduled for May or June ¶2009. Shbeikat noted that parliament rejected an amendment to allow foreign workers to join unions in 2008, but MOL planned to submit a revised article to this effect. He also confirmed that the MOL continues to work on drafting by-laws to implement the amendment approved in July 2008 that extended the labor law to domestic workers, noting the challenge of creating regulations that will effectively enable household inspections by MOL. ¶3. (SBU) Shbeikat highlighted some of the improvements Jordan had made in combating trafficking in persons (TIP),in particular the passage of an anti-TIP law which was recently published in the Official Gazette (ref A). He said that the MOL plans to focus on operationalizing the joint labor-police inspection unit, noting that a team had visited Italy and planned to visit the Netherlands shortly to learn from their experiences. He also stressed the need to initiate the process for establishing a shelter, including the drafting of by-laws, which would be championed by the Ministry of Social Development. ¶4. (SBU) The Minister confirmed that Jordan's garment industry was vulnerable to the economic slowdown in the U.S., and as a result, several factories in the Qualifying Industrial Zones (QIZs) had closed within the last year or faced downsizing (ref B). Fearing the "worst is yet to come," he noted that the government was reviewing a proposal to support the garment industry on a temporary basis through various initiatives such as subsidizing transportation or waiving visa fees for foreign workers in exchange for hiring more Jordanians. He highlighted the five new satellite QIZs as a bright spot, however, that would increase Jordanian employment in the sector (ref C). ¶5. (SBU) The Ambassador reinforced the need for proactive GOJ communication with the public and private sectors on ongoing actions by the Jordanian government to enhance working conditions and protect labor rights, as well as any statistics that could demonstrate the impact of such measures. Shbeikat indicated that he might wish to visit the U.S. in the near future, when the time is right, to showcase Jordan's efforts. Visit Amman's classified website at: http://www.state.gov/p/nea/amman Beecroft