VZCZCXRO3561
RR RUEHCI
DE RUEHAM #8341/01 3121612
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 081612Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY AMMAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5454
INFO RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 2713
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 0103
RUEHPF/AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH 0030
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 0234
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 0118
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 0214
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO 0129
RUEHKP/AMCONSUL KARACHI 0053
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL CALCUTTA 0031
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 4126
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 AMMAN 008341 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS TO USTR SAUMS, ROSENBERG, KARESH 
STATE PASS TO DOL JAMES RUDE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB ETRD GTIP KTEX JO BG
SUBJECT: QIZ MANAGERS COMPLAIN ABOUT GOJ LABOR CRACKDOWN 
 
REF: A. AMMAN 3401 
     ¶B. AMMAN 6886 
     ¶C. AMMAN 8318 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: U.S. garment buyer representatives, QIZ 
estate owners, and factory operators have started to complain 
in recent weeks about the state of Jordan's QIZ industry. 
Contacts say they are losing revenue as costs rise and 
machines sit idle with no workers available.  Some owners 
have halted growth plans and others are terminating space 
rental contracts. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Citing the lengthy delay imposed by the Ministry of 
Labor (MoL) in processing foreign work visas, the recent rise 
in the minimum wage, and plans to double the annual foreign 
worker permit fee, many in the QIZ business community are 
planning to leave Jordan.  Estate owners and factory 
operators say they were committed to hiring Jordanians in the 
long-term, and were willing to work with the GoJ to attract 
more local workers.  But actions by the GoJ to restrict the 
flow of foreign labor and raise the cost of doing business 
are hitting the companies hard.  With no trained, local labor 
pool available, many say they are looking at expanding or 
setting up operation in Egypt.  COMMENT:  These complaints 
clearly represent only the business owners' side of the 
story.  For its part, the GoJ's long term vision for the 
sector is not yet clear; GoJ decision makers continue to 
grapple with the immediate problems at hand and have yet to 
reach a consensus about the future.  END COMMENT AND SUMMARY. 
 
BUYERS HESITANT TO PLACE ORDERS 
------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Business stakeholders characterize the GoJ's 
response to the foreign worker exploitation issue as ruinous 
for business.  Representatives from Jones NY, Inc., the sole 
American buyer with a permanent social compliance presence in 
Jordan, say they see little long-term vision or clarity in 
GoJ decisions related to QIZs.  A still-existing informal ban 
on Bangladeshi work visas (reftel A), an expected doubling of 
the foreign worker permit fee, and rumors of radical wage 
re-definition (overtime, meal and lodging deduction amounts) 
in the labor reform bill expected to be introduced in 
Parliament, all make it difficult for Jones to complete cost 
analysis for 2007 orders.  As a result, Jones representatives 
say they are unsure what orders they can place today for 2007 
delivery. 
 
¶4. (SBU) A government that "makes decisions just like that" 
contrasts starkly with the long-term commitment and approach 
that his company has taken to Jordan, complained Kesava 
Murali, Jones lead compliance officer, in a October 31 phone 
conversation.  NOTE: Jones NY also purchases for a number of 
other American buyers including Wal-Mart.  As a result, it 
accounts for nearly 15% of all QIZ textile exports. END NOTE. 
 Murali contrasted GoJ actions that he described as 
misdirected, over-reactive, and hurting the entire industry, 
with his company's slow and methodical approach in coaxing 
factory owners to improve worker hours, benefits, and 
collective bargaining capability rather then cancel orders 
when they find problems.  According to Murali, the GoJ needs 
to start thinking about how to nudge some bad players onto 
the right path, and incorporate gradual change in a 
transition to a complete Jordanian work force "or there won't 
be a QIZ sector in Jordan in one year's time" for a Jordanian 
work force to enter. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Murali said individual GoJ decisions that target 
individual actors, or are explained and implemented as part 
of a larger strategy are not an issue.  But when the 
government decides it needs to clean up, it cannot be 
haphazard and punish everyone, Murali argued.  He criticized 
the GoJ's decision to start moving workers randomly from 
factories with citations to ones with few or no citations, 
and creating a 'Golden List' that gives listed factories 
easier access to foreign labor without fully vetting them. 
In addition, not publicly declaring a worker visa ban - but 
enforcing one nonetheless - punishes everyone rather than 
 
AMMAN 00008341  002 OF 003 
 
 
just "the bad apples."  The lack of a pro-business, long-term 
vision for the sector that addresses rising costs and labor 
shortages is also disturbing to Murali.  For these reasons, 
Murali continued, Jones is now looking at operations in 
Egypt, not Jordan, as a place to grow business. 
 
FACTORIES: NO ONE TO MAN THE MACHINES 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) A shortage of affordable labor remains the biggest 
complaint raised by most employers about Jordan's booming 
economy.  With the Ministries of Labor and Interior 
admittedly taking deliberate steps to slow down the entry of 
foreign workers, the almost complete dearth of local, skilled 
textile workers has become an even more acute problem for the 
QIZ textile sector given its size (almost 90% of the $1 
billion QIZ exports to the US and 80% of the $1.2 billion of 
total exports to the US) and heavy reliance on foreign labor 
(60% plus of the 60,000 employees).  According to projections 
from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the sector requires 
an additional 8-10,000 workers to meet growth demands, while 
replacement of current foreign workers whose visas are 
expiring is close to 30,000.  According to factory owners, 
government action to cut off foreign labor is only 
exacerbating the labor problem. 
 
¶7. (SBU) The GoJ's decision to limit the number of foreign 
workers in the sector is forcing many factories to operate at 
50% capacity or less.  The MoL's plan to consider raising the 
cost of foreign worker permit fees is forcing many factory 
operators to consider leaving.  According to Muhammad Mansoor 
Khawaja, a Pakistani investor in the QIZs who has lived in 
Jordan for seven years, "this is the beginning of the end." 
As proof, he named at least four factories that were freezing 
expansion plans in the Al-Tajamouat QIZ, with others moving 
their management to Egypt at the invitation of Egyptian 
government officials, to explore options there "where the 
bureaucracy was a lot less and investors are respected." 
 
¶8. (SBU) R.F. Edirisinghe Athulla, a well-respected Sri 
Lankan factory operator whose company EAM Maliban has 
invested $25 million in a modern factory in the Ad-Dulayl QIZ 
estate told EconOff October 24 that the labor shortage was 
having a major impact on business.  He cited the same four 
companies in the Al-Tajamouat QIZ who intend to leave Jordan. 
 Athulla also believes the labor shortage is a byproduct of 
bad government policy implemented over the past five years. 
With an official unemployment rate of 15% in Jordan and with 
the government having spent close to $60 million in 
vocational training program, he said the results of Jordanian 
labor placement efforts in QIZs are abysmal.  NOTE: In recent 
discussions, the GoJ has begun to recognize that a revamping 
of the entire vocational training centers (VTC) system is 
required to improve the employability of Jordanians.  END 
NOTE. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Athulla argued the GoJ should provide benefits such 
as transport, lodging, and housing to entice Jordanians to 
work in QIZ factories.  Asked why this was the state's rather 
than the factory's responsibility, Athulla responded that his 
factory, like many others, was placed in remote QIZs in hopes 
of developing the local economy there.  Unfortunately, the 
growth of the factories has far outstripped the local labor 
pool.  Few Jordanians have moved in to fill the void. 
Athulla says the factories alone cannot provide incentives to 
draw in workers from other regions.  If the government builds 
housing, his factory would provide meals for Jordanian 
workers.  Yet the government has proposed doubling the 
foreign worker permit fee to pay for such benefits.  Athulla 
sees this as another short-sighted strategy as it will slowly 
kill businesses and force investors to leave. 
 
ESTATE OWNERS: PLENTY OF ROOM IN THE INN 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) In a November 1 meeting, co-CEOs of the 
Al-Tajamouat QIZ, Halim Salfiti and Ramiz Manneh, cited 
numerous actions by the GoJ that they say are causing the 
 
AMMAN 00008341  003 OF 003 
 
 
closure of factories representing 8,000 jobs in their QIZs, 
half of Al-Tajamouat's total capacity.  According to Salfiti 
and Manneh, failure to attract more Jordanians to the sector 
has stunted growth over the past year.  As a result, their 
QIZ has had no new construction, and up to 30% of available 
work space and dormitories currently sit empty.  Factory 
owners who usually sign 3-year leases are now trying to 
cancel contracts, operating month-to-month, or, in a 
best-case scenario, signing only 6-month extensions. 
 
¶11. (SBU) Salfiti said though he understands the GoJ wants 
more Jordanians to work in the sector, a complete shut-off of 
foreign workers is not the answer.  His estate has a 
three-member team dedicated to finding Jordanian workers. 
The process is difficult, and requires discussions with 
outlying village mayors and with families with employable 
daughters, as well as bringing in parents to tour the 
factories and see working conditions.  Jordanians must also 
be convinced to participate for the first time in an 
industrial-based economy with a focus on ethics, team 
dynamics, efficiency, and on-time delivery.  As a result, the 
team recruits and retains about 40 Jordanians a month while 
the need reaches well into the thousands.  Salfiti welcomes 
government support in attracting Jordanian workers but says 
more than training and transportation is needed. 
 
¶12. (SBU) According to Salfiti, the government's short-term 
ban on foreign workers is an "over-reaction that has created 
a major problem."  In a tour of several factories with 
Manneh, EconOffs saw that the major factories in the estate 
were operating at 50% capacity or less.  Hundreds of sewing 
machines and worker lines sat empty.  Discussions with 
factory managers affirmed Salfiti's comments that many were 
planning to leave if the difficulty in obtaining foreign 
workers is not eased or if costs continue to rise.  Manneh 
pointed to the cascading effect of factory operators leaving 
as the departures also hit supporting businesses owned by 
Jordanians, including phone calling card stores, small 
groceries, and restaurants catering to QIZ workers. 
 
¶13. (SBU) COMMENT: Representing 80% of Jordan's $1.2 billion 
plus in annual exports to the U.S., the concerns of textile 
manufacturers must be taken seriously.  It is hard to gauge 
how dire the situation in the QIZs really is, but there is no 
doubt that a number of businesses are considering pulling up 
stakes and re-locating to potentially lower-cost locations. 
Post cannot yet judge whether this is a harbinger of a 
significant outflow of solid foreign investors, or merely 
'good riddance' to investors who were not willing to pay a 
fair wage to bring in Jordanians to the workforce. 
 
¶14. (SBU) While the buyers of garments produced in Jordan are 
happy with the quality, time delivery, and current price of 
the goods, labor shortages and rising costs are a growing 
burden.  The GoJ will find it difficult to strike a balance 
between allowing more foreign workers to meet short-term 
demand while enticing Jordanians to work in the long term. 
 
¶15. (SBU) As the GoJ thinks a long term strategy through, the 
Embassy will continue to urge the GoJ to actively engage 
business stakeholders and develop a longer-term strategy for 
the sector, and assist the GoJ to build a growing, diverse, 
competitive and business-enabling Jordanian economy in which 
workers' rights are fully respected. 
HALE