VZCZCXYZ0012
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAM #0706/01 0771307
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 181307Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY AMMAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4680
INFO RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO 0214
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 0188
RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI 0062
RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA 0145
RUEHML/AMEMBASSY MANILA 0147
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 1593
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 1626
RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE 0361
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 5428
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC

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