AMMAN — A new bylaw to the
Jordanian Labor Law, issued on
Monday, finally provides protections to agricultural workers, after 12 years of
advocacy.
اضافة اعلان
The bylaw extends the protections offered to all workers in
Jordan’s labor code, including a formal contract, work safety requirements, and
compensation for workplace injuries. The bylaw provides for an eight-hour work
day, with no more than forty-eight hours spent working per week, with an hour
of rest and food, and details maternal leave policies, in addition to other
regulations.
Previously Jordan News reported that there are 115,000
farmers in Jordan, who work on vegetable farms, poultry farms, cattle farms,
and other parts of the agricultural sector.
“We think it’s a progressive step,” said Ahmad Awad,
director of the Phenix Center for Economic Studies and Jordan Labor Watch. “And
it will impact positively on the working conditions of workers... During the
last year, the working conditions of the agricultural sector have been very
poor.” He described “a lot of violations’’ of labor standards in the sector and
“many deaths.” “And the workers in this sector are excluded from the social
protection system,” he added. “We think that issuing and implementing the bylaw
will safeguard the rights of workers in this sector.”
Advocates have called for the implementation of the bylaw
for over a decade. Twelve years ago, when the Labor Law was amended, the
government “told us at that time, they would issue a special bylaw to include
and to protect the rights of workers in this sector,” said Awad. “Because the
workers in this sector are suffering from some specific conditions. After
twelve years, they enacted it.” The latest version of the Labor Law was issued
in 1996 and amended in 2002.
The agricultural sector is an important but often informal
aspect of the Jordanian economy. A 2018 document from the
World Bank found that
while agriculture only constitutes around 4 percent of Jordan’s GDP, between 20
to 25 percent of the country’s “active” population is involved some way or
another in the agriculture and food sector. However, many agricultural workers
are a part of the so-called “shadow economy” or “informal economy”, which
encompasses around half of Jordan’s workers. Informal workers, which include a
significant number of migrant workers, have few legal protections.
“One of the most positive articles in the bylaw mentions
that if any rights are not available in the bylaw, the labor standards
available in the labor law should be implemented,” said Awad. “I think this is
one of the positive parts. All labor rights available in the labor code are
available in this bylaw.”
According to the labor activist, the bylaw has been long
delayed because of pressure imposed on the government by the owners of
agricultural businesses. “We think that the agriculture employers, the
businessmen investing in the sector, put pressure on the government to not
issue this regulation,” Awad explained. “But the government finally responded
positively to the pressure of the civil society (organizations) advocating
human rights and labor rights.”
Awad also attributed the timing of the law to the
United Nations’ Universal Periodic Review (UPR), which involves a review of the human
rights record of each UN member state. Recommendation 135.16 of Jordan’s most
recent review, in 2018, called for Jordan to “amend the labor law to protect
the rights of agricultural workers, including legal safeguards to ensure decent
working conditions.” “So it’s a requirement for the international community,”
said Awad.
However, the bylaw is not perfect, according to Awad. The
bylaw excludes “micro-operations” that employ three workers or fewer. he said
that there is a “significant” number of agricultural organizations of this size
- which are completely left out by the new protections. “Why does the government
exclude the workers in these small farms? We think that it will keep these
workers exposed to violations,” he said.
Basel Ramadneh, a farmer, told Jordan News that many of his
colleagues have not noticed any difference regarding the new law of the agricultural
workers because of the exclusion.
“I myself work in an agricultural land with four other
colleagues. We are five workers and we are pleased with the new law. It has
helped us a lot and protected our rights,” Ramadneh said.
“However, the new law has deprived my colleagues from
provisions for limitation of working hours, and social security,” he said. “It
is not their fault that they work on plots where there are less than three
workers. They should reconsider this loophole I believe. Sometimes they have to
work for hours despite being sick or tired, and nothing guarantees or protects
their rights.”
In a message to Jordan News, spokesman for the Ministry of
Labor Mohammad Zyood said that “The exception is not absolute and the matter is
left to the compatibility between the small farm owner and the workers.” The
law stipulates that for businesses employing three workers or less, “worker
hours, holidays, and vacation hours are regulated by the owner.”
Zyood added that the bylaw took time to be issued because it
required “long dialogues over the past years until it was issued in a formula
that satisfies the worker and the employees.”
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