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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 AMMAN 006886 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS TO USTR KARESH, AROSENBERG, JBUNTIN 
STATE PASS TO DOL JRUDE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/30/2016 
TAGS: ELAB ETRD PHUM GTIP KTEX JO IN BG
SUBJECT: WHERE HAVE ALL THE BANGLADESHIS GONE? 
 
REF: A. AMMAN 4167 
     ¶B. AMMAN 5595 
 
Classified By: Ambassador David Hale for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: In an attempt to stem labor violations in 
Jordan's Qualifying Industrial Zones (QIZs), the Ministry of 
Labor (MoL) took an informal decision in late May to halt all 
approvals of work permits for Bangladeshis and overturn any 
previous approvals for Bangladeshis who had not yet traveled 
to Jordan.  The Indian Embassy took a decision in mid-August 
to bar Indians from working in Jordan's QIZs by no longer 
attesting new work permits for Indians.  As a result of these 
actions, individual QIZ factories with previous approvals for 
Bangladeshi workers or those in immediate need of new foreign 
workers say they are losing millions in revenue every month, 
and are unable to meet previously contracted orders for 
textile shipments.  Complicating the problem, the MoL 
recently issued a number of Bangladeshi work permits for 
select factories, under pressure from textile business 
owners.  This inconsistent and non-transparent policy of 
granting some factory owners permits to bring in Bangladeshis 
is leading to accusations of corruption.  A comprehensive 
long-term solution to labor problems in Jordan will require a 
more coordinated effort among ministries, the private-sector, 
and worker rights' representatives.  END SUMMARY. 
 
NO MORE TROUBLE 
--------------- 
 
¶2. (C/NF) In late May, the Ministry of Labor took an informal 
decision to prevent any new Bangladeshis from working in 
Jordan's QIZs.  Asked why, MoL contacts cited: a 
preponderance of labor violations committed against 
Bangladeshi workers, Bangladeshis comprising a majority of 
the foreign workers with overstay fines, and evidence that 
recruiters were charging Bangladeshis to come work in Jordan. 
 NOTE: Bangladeshis make up more then half of the 38,000 
foreign work force in the QIZs.  Additionally, since the 
publication of the National Labor Committee report, organized 
Bangladeshis have held work stoppages in numerous factories 
demanding restitution for back wages and unpaid overtime 
(reftel A).  END NOTE.  Asked August 27 when the ban would be 
lifted, the MoL Advisor on QIZs gave econoff the vague 
answer, "once the labor problem is fixed."  NOTE: Post has 
heard recent allegations from contacts at the MoL that the 
Bangladeshi Embassy may be complicit in the labor problem. 
Currently, the Bangladeshi mission includes two individuals: 
an Ambassador and Third Secretary.  The Third Secretary is 
said by the MoL Secretary General and the Minister's Advisor 
on QIZs to have a financial stake in a Jordan QIZ Factory, 
and the Ambassador is accused by one MoL contact of being 
complicit in facilitating Bangladeshi worker movements in 
exchange for proceeds that the recruiting agencies charge 
Bangladeshis to come to Jordan.  None of these accusations 
have been substantiated.  END NOTE. 
 
¶3. (C/NF) In a conversation with econoff August 18, Indian 
Ambassador to Jordan R. Dayakar said his government had 
decided to temporarily ban Indian citizens from taking up new 
jobs in Jordan's QIZs.  NOTE: This conversation with econoff 
was a follow-up to a discussion in late June in which Dayakar 
expressed concern about negative reports in Indian newspapers 
about an Indian who had committed suicide in a Jordanian QIZ 
factory.  Reports alleged that the worker wanted to leave for 
India, but was not granted access to his passport.  The 
Indian Embassy investigated the matter and met with the 
factory owner.  Though Ambassador Dayakar was worried about 
the treatment of Indians in all QIZ factories at the time, he 
told econoff he was satisfied in this particular case with 
the factory owner's compensation to the deceased worker's 
family ($14,000) and with the explanation that the worker's 
depression and documented medical history of "mental 
 
AMMAN 00006886  002 OF 004 
 
 
instability" led him to suicide.  END NOTE. 
 
¶4. (C/NF) Asked why the ban on Indian labor was being imposed 
at this time, Ambassador Dayakar said his government was 
"still under a lot of public pressure" to do something about 
perceived labor violations against Indians.  Additionally, 
the process by which an Indian is given permission to work in 
Jordan requires an attestation of the potential employee's 
character by the Indian Embassy.  Concern that this 
attestation could be perceived as an active role by the 
Indian Embassy in the exploitation of workers is also 
something the Indian Ambassador said he "wanted to get away 
from." 
 
EMPTY FLOORS, VACANT POSITIONS HURTING THE SECTOR 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶5. (C) On August 28, econoff met with Hikmet Alpar Ozyakali, 
factory manager of Sun Jordan II in the Ad-Dulayl Estate QIZ, 
who complained of the negative impact the restriction on the 
worker pool is having on the sector.  Currently, Ozyakali has 
500 Bangladeshi workers at his factory: 350 of whom he 
brought in, 120 of whom the GoJ sent him in its recent worker 
shifts (reftel B), and 30 who came on their own from other 
factories in search of better work conditions.  Ozyakali 
claimed he has no labor violations and treats his workers 
well.  Ozyakali stated that he had an additional 300 approved 
Bangladeshi work permits that were recently revoked by the 
Ministry of Labor.  Those workers were to replace workers in 
Sun Jordan II and fill a new factory, Sun Jordan I.  New 
equipment and raw textiles are sitting on the ground at these 
factories.  According to Ozyakali, each factory is booked to 
produce between $2 and $2.5 million monthly in textile 
exports (25,000 units) for "The Limited/Express" brand. 
Because work permits for the Bangladeshis he hoped to bring 
have been blocked, Ozyakali shipped one month's worth of raw 
textiles for one factory to Turkey for production.  According 
to Ozyakali, the 34% tariff costs in Turkey alone will cost 
him approximately $500,000 which he is hoping the buyer will 
partially cover. 
 
¶6. (C) In search of a permanent solution to his labor 
shortage problem, Ozyakali says he has been instructed by the 
MoL to go to Sri Lanka to find workers because the 
Bangladeshis he filed for previously have no chance of being 
approved.  Pursuing this option, Ozyakali says, will take at 
least two months: two weeks to interview workers in Sri 
Lanka, and six weeks for Jordan's security clearances to be 
approved, costing him millions more in lost business. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Asked whey he does not employ local Jordanians, 
Ozyakali said he has some Jordanians in his factory but few 
are willing to work in Ad-Dulayl, over a one-hour ride from 
Zarqa, the closest large pool of Jordanian labor.  Also, to 
fill the factory lines, Ozyakali says he needs 300 workers at 
once; piecemeal labor will not work in the short-term. 
Ozyakali said his willingness to raise his bank guarantee 
from 90,000 JD to 500,000 JD (127,000 USD to 705,000 USD) and 
his pledge to pay overstay fees for any foreign workers have 
fallen on deaf ears at the Ministry of Labor.  What irks him 
even more, he says, is that he knows other factories are 
getting small numbers of work permits for Bangladeshis.  This 
practice, he argues, suggests corruption. 
 
¶8. (C) In an August 30 phone conversation with econoff, 
"Jones NY" compliance specialist Kasava Murali (based in 
Jordan) said the decision to ban Bangladeshi workers could 
have a major negative impact on the QIZ sector.  NOTE: Jones 
accounts for nearly 20% of all textile export purchases from 
Jordan's QIZs, and is the only buyer to have a permanent 
social compliance officer on the ground.  To date, the 
company has not cut back on orders, citing a long-term 
commitment to Jordan.  By placing a permanent representative 
 
AMMAN 00006886  003 OF 004 
 
 
on the ground, their hope is to work with factories from 
which they source and help bring them up to international 
labor standards.  Jones NY is negotiating an agreement with 
Solidarity Center to help build union committees in factories 
that will better organize foreign workers.  END NOTE. 
Murali, with joint responsibility for Jones in Egypt, said 
that the QIZ textile sector there had doubled in the last 
year, and that policies like the Bangladeshi worker ban would 
only accelerate that growth.  NOTE: Separately, Murali said, 
Egypt "is the next Jordan in terms of the NLC report."  Labor 
violations there against Egyptian workers are, according to 
Murali, "waiting to blow up."  END NOTE. 
 
¶9. (U) A report August 30 in Al-Ghad, an independent daily, 
highlighted the business impact that a shortage of foreign 
workers is creating for the economy.  According to the 
Al-Ghad report, the Irbid Chamber of Industry estimates the 
labor shortage in the Al-Hassan QIZ to be 3,000 workers.  The 
report states that the labor shortage "is harming investments 
and is causing factory owners to consider closing down." 
 
GOVERNMENT FOREIGN WORKER TAP CORRODED 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶10. (C) In a discussion with econoff on August 29, MoL 
Advisor on QIZs Khawla Al-Hassan (protect) expressed her 
frustration with the Bangladeshi worker ban policy. 
Accepting that the policy was not a smart approach and a "lot 
of good factories are now empty and suffering economically," 
she said there is little clear indication that the policy is 
going to change.  NOTE: Decisions about which factories 
receive work permits, and how many, are made by a committee 
comprised of three MoL representatives and one Jordan 
Investment Board (JIB) representative seconded to the MoL. 
This committee was established after the NLC report was 
published in order to demonstrate transparency.  According to 
Hassan, prior to the establishment of the committee, factory 
owners or Jordanians with influence would seek permission 
from the Minister of Labor or Secretary General who would 
sign any requests for foreign workers an individual 
submitted. END NOTE. 
 
¶11. (C/NF) Hassan used the Bangladeshi worker ban policy to 
exemplify what she considers a widening labor problem. 
Hassan accused the MoL Secretary General of being corrupt, 
taking financial gain from factory owners, and instructing 
the committee to grant those companies work permits for 
Bangladeshis.  According to Hassan, instead of a transparent 
committee using an open international formula of granting 2.5 
workers permits for every machine that a factory has, the 
committee issues an inconsistent number of work permits and 
also to Bangladeshis - in violation of its own ban.  To her, 
this suggests incompetence and outside influence. 
Compounding the problem, the Ministry of Interior has yet to 
approve the 1,000 worker movements that the MoL conducted. 
This hold-up has forced the MoL to suspend the movement of 
another 1,000 who are presumably suffering in bad labor 
conditions.  NOTE: Hassan is also the main lead at the MoL 
for handling worker complaints in the QIZs.  Part of her 
frustration may be tied to slow actions she sees on 
prosecuting labor violators.  As a result, she is having a 
difficult time dealing with more and more reported cases of 
labor violations.  This week alone, she cited 13 Chinese 
women who are being deported against their will after filing 
a complaint with the MoL last week, 26 Sri Lankan women who 
complained of sexual harassment, bad food, and no wages and 
who are sleeping in the labor offices at Ad-Dulayl estate, 
and 55 Bangladeshi workers who Hassan says she is being 
forced to deport because she feels the Bangladeshi Embassy 
attempted to exploit the MoL's plan to move them from a bad 
factory for financial gain. 
 
¶12. (C) COMMENT: While it is difficult to distinguish the 
 
AMMAN 00006886  004 OF 004 
 
 
wheat from the chaff as everyone levels corruption charges 
against one another, the negative economic impact of barring 
certain foreign workers in the QIZs is evident.  Poor means 
of coordinating work permit issuance with the Ministry of 
Interior also contributes to the inability to bring in other 
foreign workers in a timely manner.  As a result, vague 
regulation and lack of clear communication by the government 
are leading some in the private sector to resort to desperate 
means to obtain workers. 
 
¶13. (C) Caught off-guard with the NLC report, the 
government's response to labor problems has been and remains 
reactive.  In chasing after each individual fire, not enough 
attention has been paid to the possibility that certain GoJ 
actions are actually stoking a larger labor problem.  Almost 
all of the responsibility to fix the problem has been given 
(or taken) by the Minister of Labor.  Long-term solutions 
will require more then one stakeholder, and a long-term 
vision which involves active inter-ministry cooperation, as 
well as an open line of communication with the private sector 
and worker rights' organizations. 
HALE