AMMAN —
Ministry of Labor spokesperson Mohammed Al-Zyoud said the ministry received 244 labor-related complaints in the first
half of this year through the electronic platform Hemaya.
اضافة اعلان
The complaints were about employers’ failure to pay
the minimum wage, said Zyoud, adding that ministry officials made over 5,200
inspection visits during this period to ensure that the private sector complies
with the stipulations of the labor law, including payment of the minimum wage.
Um Khaled, a 43-year-old mother of four, all under
18, had to take up employment five years ago, when her husband left the family,
to be able to meet her family’s needs.
“I started working in a sewing workshop near my
house in
Hashemi Shamali. At first I did not understand the need to join social
security, thinking that they would deduct JD20 out of my paycheck. Now, after
five years of working, I regret this decision,” she said.
Her starting salary was JD120. Three years later,
“after many negotiations, the owners raised my paycheck to JD150”, she added.
“The Ministry of Labor’s inspectors came to the
workshop twice before, and whenever they would come, the owners would sit me
down in their office, as if one of the customers, and would start showing me
designs and talking about measurements and cost,” Um Khaled said.
According to Article 53 of the Labor Law, an
employer who pays an employee less than the minimum wage or discriminates
between sexes that perform work of equal value shall be fined not less than
JD500 and not more than JD1,000; the penalty is doubled whenever the violation
is repeated.
Hamada Abu Nijmeh, head of the Worker’s House,
highlighted the importance of trade unions in protecting workers’ rights and
helping them get their due privileges.
“They are
responsible for negotiating with the employers to grant the workers all their
rights, including that of being paid the minimum wage, and are also responsible
for informing workers about their rights and entitlements,” said Abu Nijmeh.
He added: “We cannot ask for a raise of the minimum
wage while we still have workers who receive less, which is an obvious
violation of workers’ rights. Solving this issue is essential,” he added.
According to the Jordan News Agency, Petra, some
150,000 active workers registered with the
Social Security Corporation (SSC)receive monthly compensation equivalent to the statutory minimum wage of JD260
(about $366).
SSC said of the registered employees who receive the
minimum wage, 142,083 are Jordanians and the rest are foreign.
Of the total
number of registered active workers in the Kingdom, which stands at 1.437
million, 10.5 percent receive the minimum wage, according to SSC.
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