VZCZCXRO4804
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHAM #4991/01 3521158
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 181158Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY AMMAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1249
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 0135
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 004991 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EEB/TPP/ABT, NEA/ELA, NEA/RA, DRL, G/TIP 
STATE PASS TO USTR (CMILLER, AROSENBERG, LKARESH) 
COMMERCE FOR ITA/OTEXA MARIA D'ANDREA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ELAB ETRD EAID KTEX JO
SUBJECT:  Jordan Seeing More Illegal and Violent Strikes in QIZ 
Factories 
 
REF:  A) Amman 4166 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION OUTSIDE USG. 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Jordan's garment factories in the Qualifying Industrial 
Zones (QIZ's) have been experiencing strikes five to six times a 
month, often led by Bengali workers, according to the Jordanian 
Ministry of Labor (MOL).  MOL inspectors have seen strikes become 
more "illegal" in nature, normally occurring without the prior 
notice required by law, and revolving around demands outside the 
Jordanian government's control or scope of the law, such as the 
firing of supervisors or salary increases above the minimum wage. 
Another trend is the increasing use of violence, including threats 
to set fire to factories, or holding management hostage.  The issue 
of pending overstay fines, which the Labor Minister said would soon 
be resolved, has been a main cause for strikes and raised concerns 
of potential human rights problems.  End Summary. 
 
More "Illegal" and Violent Strikes 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) On December 9, the MOL Inspections Directorate told Emboffs 
that strikes occur in the QIZ's about five to six times a month, 
some lasting a day, others weeks.  NOTE:  The number of striking 
workers varies depending on the source.  For example, in one case, 
local press reported 600-1,200 striking workers, while the New 
York-based National Labor Committee (NLC) has claimed as many as 
3,000.  END NOTE.  Bengali workers, in particular, have been seen as 
the primary instigators of strikes (Ref A).  Strikes are also 
increasingly "illegal" according to the GOJ, in part because the 
workers often have failed to give the prior 14-day notice required 
by law. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) MOL has found many of the recent demands to be 
unreasonable and out of its control.  As a USAID-funded MOL Advisor 
explained, many of the foreign workers have come to believe that the 
GOJ will intervene on their behalf even if the issue goes beyond the 
scope of the local labor law.  For example, Chinese workers at one 
factory went on strike demanding raises to account for exchange rate 
fluctuations, given that both the Jordanian dinar and the Chinese 
yuan are pegged to the weakening U.S. dollar.  Dana Bayyat, 
Executive Director of CCKM Apparel, confirmed that her factory had a 
strike in October in which the Bengali workers demanded that their 
production manager, whom they elected, be fired and deported (Ref 
A).  She ended up sending the supervisor home in order to resume 
business. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) One board member of Jordan's garment association (JGATE) 
told an anecdote from her factory, where over 90% of employees are 
Bangladeshi, of a foreign worker who had received a minor cut on his 
finger that barely scratched the surface.  After receiving treatment 
and a band-aid from the factory doctor, the worker demanded to see a 
medical specialist or else he would call her American buyers.  He 
backed down and apologized after she offered him her phone to place 
the call.  She said that many of the foreign workers, believing that 
the factory management has been scared by previous NLC allegations 
of labor violations, will make unreasonable demands by holding up 
NLC reports and saying that "they know who to call." 
 
¶5.  (SBU) MOL also indicated that another new trend is the resort to 
violence.  Bangladeshi workers have threatened to set fire to 
factories.  They have also attacked and held hostage supervisors, 
foreign Embassy officials, and/or MOL inspectors, as was the case 
with the strike at Cotton Craft factory (Ref A). 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Most recently, six workers from DK Factory were arrested 
for allegedly assaulting their company's production manager and 
incited workers to sabotage the company's properties.  After the NLC 
issued a November 26 report on the case, the MOL posted a response 
on its website, correcting inaccuracies in the NLC report regarding 
the working conditions, and requested that the National Center for 
Human Rights (NCHR) conduct an independent investigation into the 
allegations against the local police.  NCHR issued a December 17 
report on its investigation, noting the local police had arrested 
the workers on November 10 after they attacked the production 
manager a second time.  The manager subsequently dropped the 
charges, and authorities detained the workers without trial for over 
a month under the Crime Prevention Law.  Following the NCHR report, 
the GOJ released and waived overstay fines for the workers, who left 
Jordan on December 15.  Labor Minister Bassem Salem criticized 
inaccuracies in NLC reports, but admitted to the Ambassador December 
17 that in this instance, the report prompted the GOJ to take 
immediate action. 
 
Lagging Regularization Process Causing Problems 
 
AMMAN 00004991  002.3 OF 002 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) One issue causing tension within the QIZ factories is the 
lagging regularization process.  In August, with JGATE's assistance, 
MOL issued temporary worker permits to over 6,000 QIZ foreign 
workers.  Many of these workers could not get permanent worker or 
residency permits because they had accrued overstay fines of 1.5 JD 
($2.12) per day for every day that they were "illegally" in Jordan. 
NOTE:  Any expatriate in Jordan out of legal status accrues the 1.5 
JD/day overstay fine, which must be paid before departure.  END 
NOTE.  In some cases, fines accrued because the GOJ did not process 
the paperwork in a timely fashion after having transferred workers 
from closed-down factories to new factories after the May 2006 NLC 
report.  In other cases, the factory management had not presented 
the proper paperwork. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Several months ago, MOL proposed to the Ministry of 
Interior that approximately JD 6 million (USD 8.5 million) in 
overstay fines for these workers be waived, in order to let the 
regularization process proceed.  In about 400 cases, some companies 
would be required to pay reduced fines of about JD 500 (USD 706) per 
person, which were deemed legitimate by MOL.  The Ministry of Labor 
has noted that the lost revenue would be made up in the first two 
years, as workers would have to pay fees initially to get residency 
and work permits, and then again a year later to extend the permits. 
 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Salem told the Ambassador on September 26, that he 
expected the Minister of Interior to approve the proposal to waive 
the fines, and that no USG intervention was needed.  The Ambassador 
reiterated U.S. concerns December 17, and Salem assured him that the 
Minister of Interior agreed with the concept, and that the two 
ministries were verifying final numbers before submitting the 
proposal to the Cabinet.  Salem expected resolution by the end of 
the year. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Pending final resolution, MOL previously extended work 
permits until December 15, and plans to do it again.  In cases of 
people wanting to return to their home country, there is a mechanism 
for the worker to apply for a waiver through MOL to MOI.  The NCHR 
has also reported to the Embassy a high rate of success in receiving 
waivers directly through MOL, such that MOL is now referring pending 
cases to NCHR for action.  Approximately 146 people have used this 
procedure, and of those, about 40-50 were approved by MOI.  The rest 
of the cases, however, have not yet been settled. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) As a board member of JGATE, Bayyat has been trying to 
press this issue with the GOJ, noting that it has the potential to 
become a human rights and forced labor issue.  Even in cases where 
the worker does not want to return home, she said that workers do 
not feel comfortable traveling within or outside the country with 
only a temporary worker permit. 
 
Need for New Labor Law 
---------------------- 
 
¶12.  (SBU) At a December 13 lunch with JGATE, board members noted 
that they were also looking forward to a new labor law, still 
pending Cabinet approval (septel).  They noted that parts of the 
current law were vague, which contributed to confusion when the MOL 
and police arrived at the scene of a strike.  Although they believe 
the draft labor law is already a bit outdated, all agreed it 
represented a significant improvement over the existing legal 
framework.  All also concurred that factories need to uphold 
international labor standards and enforce local labor laws. 
 
Visit Amman's Classified Website at: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman 
 
Hale