VZCZCXRO2266
RR RUEHCI
DE RUEHAM #8318/01 3111616
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 071616Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY AMMAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5421
INFO RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 0100
RUEHPF/AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH 0027
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 0230
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 2709
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 0115
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 0211
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO 0126
RUEHKP/AMCONSUL KARACHI 0050
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL CALCUTTA 0028
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 4122
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 AMMAN 008318 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS TO USTR SAUMS, ROSENBERG, KARESH 
STATE PASS TO DOL JAMES RUDE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/07/2016 
TAGS: ELAB ETRD GTIP KTEX BG JO
SUBJECT: MINISTERS REMAIN ENGAGED ON LABOR PROBLEM; 
DIFFERING VIEWS ON LONG TERM PLAN 
 
REF: AMMAN 06886 
 
Classified By: Ambassador David Hale for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Minister of Labor (MoL) Salem and Minister of 
Industry and Trade (MoIT) Zu'bi offered the Ambassador 
varying interpretations of the labor challenges Jordan faces 
in the QIZ sector.  Both agreed the issue needs constant 
attention.  With both ministers, the Ambassador covered the 
following topics: the USAID funded short-term assessment 
program, the need for criminal prosecution of fair labor 
practice violators, the new labor law, and the labor shortage 
in the QIZ's.  Both ministers recognize that addressing 
criminal prosecution and the labor shortage remain the most 
immediate challenges, but disagree on how to address them. 
Ambassador also briefed the commander of Jordan's national 
police on the political significance of this issue and of the 
importance of full enforcement of Jordan's labor laws and 
protections.  END SUMMARY. 
 
SHORT-TERM ASSESSMENT REVEALING UNPLEASANT TRUTHS 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶2. (C) In a November 2 meeting with Minister of Labor Bassem 
Salem, Ambassador thanked the Minister for his support for 
the short-term assessment project funded by USAID.  Salem was 
pleased that the team was getting good access to factories, 
and that some of his inspectors were able to accompany as 
jointly agreed.  COMMENT/NOTE: Salem was quite engaged with 
the work the team was doing, and was clearly aware of the 
five cases of alleged human rights violations, including one 
case of child labor, that the short-term assessment team had 
reported to the Ministry.  As agreed to with the Ministry, 
the short-term assessment is a fact-finding mission.  The 
goal is not to provide the Ministry with names of factories 
that have labor violations, but rather to produce a 
professionally-audited report of the sector that can be 
shared publicly.  When human rights violations are 
discovered, they are reported to the Embassy and to the MoL 
for immediate action.  END COMMENT/NOTE.  Salem said some in 
his Ministry were worried that he would be upset to hear that 
such violations were still occurring, but he said it was 
"music to my ears" because it means we are moving forward on 
solving the problems.  Salem concluded that things are 
getting better for workers, but that Jordan "still has a lot 
of problems and some bad apples."  According to Salem, "we 
are 70% there." 
 
¶3. (C) In a meeting the same day, Ministry of Industry and 
Trade Sharif Zu'bi offered his continued support for the work 
of the short-term assessment program, but was surprised that 
there were human rights violations being uncovered.  This led 
to a discussion of the importance of criminal prosecution of 
labor rights violation cases. 
 
CRIMINAL PROSECUTION SLOW-GOING 
------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (C) Zu'bi agreed to follow up on the Embassy's request for 
an update on labor rights violation cases currently in local 
courts, but separately criticized the MoL for not drawing on 
enough of the available penal code to prosecute labor rights 
violators.  Zu'bi said that he, personally, met with the 
legal department of the MoL to encourage them to use the 
criminal code, the Anti-Slavery Law of 1929, and the Passport 
Law of 2003 to build a case that could be submitted to the 
Public Prosecutor.   NOTE: Zu'bi has a law degree, and was a 
partner in a family law firm before he was named Minister of 
Industry and Trade in 2005. END NOTE.  According to Zu'bi, 
the MoL refuses to use these laws, and believes its authority 
is limited to the Labor Law of 1996 which, in its 
interpretation, does not give it authority to unilaterally 
submit a criminal case for consideration. 
 
¶5. (C) Salem, in effect confirming Zu'bi's critique, said 
that it was the responsibility of the alleged victim to file 
a complaint, and that his Ministry has little authority to 
 
AMMAN 00008318  002 OF 003 
 
 
take the lead on a criminal case.  Salem believes 
responsibility for criminal prosecution lies squarely with 
the Ministry of Interior or with the local court systems. 
Asked whether his Ministry was taking any actions against 
labor rights violators, Salem said he had recently removed a 
factory operator (Note: Rainbow, Ltd) from the GOJ's Golden 
List after it was discovered that the operator was still 
committing labor violations.  He had instructed his legal 
department to write a letter requiring the factory owner to 
deposit JD 75,000 (US$ 54,000) as a bank guarantee, and also 
to clear all paycheck stubs for workers with the Ministry. 
Salem gave the factory owner two weeks to comply, and since 
that date has passed without compliance, he is now 
considering what action the MoL can take.  COMMENT: While 
Salem clearly recognizes that the citations his Ministry 
gives labor rights violators do little to remedy the problem, 
he also does not seem to have developed a means to pursue 
individual bad actors aggressively while allowing good actors 
to continue their work.  As a result, most MoL policies - 
such as informal bans or delays in foreign work visas - 
punish all the factories, rather then the select ones in 
violation of fair labor practices.  END COMMENT. 
 
LABOR LAW ON TRACK FOR WINTER SESSION OF PARLIAMENT 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶6. (C) As the champion of the draft labor law, Salem seemed 
optimistic that it would be introduced and passed in a timely 
manner in the winter session of Parliament.  Salem said since 
receiving the draft labor law from the ILO in August 2006, he 
had established a number of committees to review the draft 
law representing different stakeholders; he re-submitted it 
to the ILO with small changes in October 2006.  He expects 
ILO feedback by November 27, cabinet approval the next week, 
and then expects to submit it to the new session of 
Parliament by December 6.  Salem confirmed that freedom of 
association for foreign workers was included in the new 
draft, and that he "did not see a problem with its passing" 
parliament.  In a best-case scenario, he expected a committee 
review in parliament of the new labor law by the end of the 
calendar year. 
 
¶7. (C) Zu'bi agreed that the labor law had a good chance to 
pass parliament.  Additionally, he highlighted the fact that 
some industry representatives were advocating for allowing 
multiple unions in a sector, while the established unions 
were arguing that no more than one union should serve any one 
sector.  Zu'bi did not see this debate as delaying or 
jeopardizing the passage of the law.  COMMENT: In many 
sectors, the mandatory unions or associations are relatively 
ineffective at serving member interests.  END COMMENT. 
 
ANSWER TO LABOR SHORTAGE QUESTION VARIES 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (C) When asked about business complaints (reftel) that the 
GoJ was making it difficult to bring in foreign labor, Salem 
readily acknowledged that he was using that strategy.  While 
ready to meet with individual company representatives 
criticizing the policy, Salem said he wanted to "make it very 
clear that we are very keen to see more Jordanian workers in 
the factories and are not going to make it easy to bring in 
foreign workers."  Salem elaborated that "by taking my time 
and making it tough" to get foreign worker visas, he hoped 
"to encourage the sector to employ Jordanians."  As an 
example, he said that local government officials in the 
southern Jordanian city of Tafila had called recently and 
told him there were 1,700 women there looking for work. 
According to Salem, these workers are ideal candidates for 
the QIZs, and he believes the sector would now be more eager 
to take these workers on. 
 
¶9. (C) In a discussion about the same topic with Zu'bi, 
however, the Ambassador received a very different 
perspective.  In his recent meetings with the CEO of Jones 
NY, Inc., Ambassador Miller of G/TIP, and Ambassador Donnelly 
at USTR, Zu'bi said all made it clear to him that labor 
 
AMMAN 00008318  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
remains the sole concern, and that buyers went as far as to 
say they felt Jordan was "moving in the wrong direction." 
According to Zu'bi, "buyers are a little weary of labor 
problems," and want to see what "kind of long term program we 
have."  He said he is "pushing for a five year plan that 
provides the industry with some certainty."  Using the 
current visa logjam as an example, Zu'bi said "we can't be 
haphazard with the industry."  Commenting on the argument 
that a primary motive for the QIZs was to create jobs for 
Jordanians - not foreign workers - Zu'bi responded that the 
QIZs alone need approximately 40,000 workers, and there 
aren't enough Jordanians available or interested in working 
in them.  Zu'bi agreed that the strategy should be to bring 
in more Jordanians but "let's have a long term plan" for the 
transition. 
HALE