AMMAN — A
project for establishing a hospitality academy is on hold because members of a
restaurants’ syndicate have been unable to schedule an appointment with
Minister of Labor Nayef Steitieh.
اضافة اعلان
Omar Al-Awwad,
head of the Jordanian Union of Restaurants and Confectionery Proprietors, said
his office tried to no avail to meet with Steitieh to discuss the project,
which envisions training young Jordanians to work in restaurants, hotels and
sweets shops, under the union’s supervision.
“The union has
an integrated project and a modern training program that will qualify hundreds
of young people for the labor market and allow them to secure jobs
immediately,” Awwad told
Jordan News.
“We requested an
appointment with the Minister of Labor since he took office and kept trying
until this moment,” he said. “But we were not granted one on grounds that he is
busy.”
Steitieh
declined to answer repeated calls by
Jordan News.
“Is it
conceivable that the Minister of Labor has been busy for six months and is
unable to schedule an appointment for one hour with the union?” Awwad asked.
“Why does the
minister refuse to approve the project that will qualify hundreds of young
people for the labor market, and we will work to secure job opportunities for
them inside and outside the Kingdom?” he asked.
Awwad said the
ministry’s approval of the project is imperative to obtain necessary licensing.
He said the requested meeting “is very important because it will discuss ways
of cooperation between the ministry and the union, and we hope to explain the
details related to the project, and the training programs we plan.”
He voiced
discontent with what appeared to him as the minister’s refusal to meet with
union members. “This project will not cost the government anything, but it will
allow young people, of all social segments and ages, an opportunity to work and
make money.”
“We intend to
train more than 50 young people every month once the academy is established,
and we do not require that they have a university degree or even a high school
certificate,” Awwad said. “What we care for is that they would be interested to
work in the restaurant business.”
He explained that
the academy will “help solve the problem of insufficient experience among the
new hires, especially since some employers request that they have high
experience and efficiency, which stand as an obstacle to employing them.”
Awwad speculated
that the ministry could be opposed to establishing an academy, since there is
already a cooking academy which offers vocational training.
But he noted
that the programs offered by the cooking academy “do not rise to the level of
work in big hotels and restaurants.”
Restaurant
worker Ahmad Taleb, 24, said that “the academy will provide young workers with
the opportunity to gain the necessary experience and skills and this will open
the horizons for them to find the right job.”
He explained
that he has been working in the restaurant sector for several years, but
initially he was faced with some obstacles, primarily the lack of experience
and skills.
“I did not complete my studies in high school
and started working for a restaurant sector. I was much younger at the time and
I had to train extensively to find a job,” he told
Jordan News.
“If this academy was
there at the time, it would have saved me the hassle of looking for someone to
train me”, he explained.
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