US embassy cable - 03AMMAN1533

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 001533 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/02/2013 
TAGS: ELAB, PGOV, PHUM, PREL, JO 
SUBJECT: LABOR ROUNDUP: ILO PROGRAM; FTA; POVERTY 
ALLEVIATION 
 
REF: A. AMMAN 313 
     B. AMMAN 02 03761 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR EDWARD W. GNEHM.  REASONS 1.5 (B) and (D). 
 
1. (C) SUMMARY.  On March 5, the GOJ and the International 
Labor Organization signed a long-awaited memorandum of 
understanding on a program to develop "internal social 
dialogue."  The three year program (one of two ILO programs 
here) is funded exclusively by the U.S. Department of Labor 
with approximately 1.4 million USD.  Based on our meetings 
with Minister of Labor Muzahim Muhaisin and ILO Regional 
Director Taleb Rifai, we believe the GOJ and ILO are in a 
good position to cooperate on labor issues for the 
foreseeable future. 
 
2.  (C) In our meetings, Rifai focused on the positive impact 
the Free Trade Agreement could have on labor issues here. 
Muhaisin, by contrast, concentrated on programs to alleviate 
poverty and unemployment through vocational training.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
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LABOR MINISTER AND ILO ON THE SAME PAGE - FINALLY 
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3. (C) On January 14, PolCouns and PolOff met with Taleb 
Rifai, newly appointed Regional Director of the ILO (note: 
Rifai had been Jordan's Minister of Tourism prior to the ILO 
appointment - ref a).  PolCouns asked about the status of the 
long-delayed 1.4 million USD ILO program to increase 
communication among labor, management and government, funded 
entirely by the U.S. Department of Labor.  Rifai chalked up 
the delay in the official roll-out of the "internal social 
dialogue" program to personality differences between previous 
ILO personnel and LabMin Muhaisin.  He predicted the program 
would move forward successfully once a memorandum of 
understanding was signed, like the recently launched ILO 
program that focuses on elimination of child labor. 
 
4.  (C) PolOff and PolCouns subsequently met with Labor 
Minister Muhaisin on January 28.  He admitted the Labor 
Ministry had "made mistakes" at the outset of the social 
dialogue program, but was also ultimately confident the 
program would be a success.  PolCouns noted the USG is 
interested in the ILO program, not only because it is 
entirely funded by the DOL, but because we want to be sure 
that such programs meet the needs of Jordan, and because such 
programs help implement the labor provisions of the US/Jordan 
FTA. 
 
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ILO PROGRAM ON LINE - FINALLY 
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5.  (SBU) On March 5, the GOJ and ILO signed the long-awaited 
MOU for the social dialogue program.  The program will assist 
in improving communications among labor actors including the 
MOL, unions, workers and factory managers.  The program is 
also designed to enhance collective bargaining, and 
strengthen the capacity of the ministry to enforce 
"fundamental working rights."  The program calls specifically 
for the "enhancement of work and employment conditions for 
both men and women in the Qualifying Industrial Zones." 
Note:  QIZ labor conditions have, and continue to meet, ILO 
standards for work conditions (ref b). 
 
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FREE TRADE AGREEMENT 
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6. (C) During our January meeting, ILO Regional Head Rifai 
made clear he is aware of the FTA, which requires both the US 
and Jordan, as members of the ILO, to ensure that trade is 
not encouraged by relaxing domestic labor laws, or by not 
enforcing existing laws (per Article 6 of the FTA).  Rifai 
characterized Jordanian labor standards as relatively good 
and was confident Jordanian labor laws will not become an 
issue vis-a-vis article 6 of the FTA.  However, Rifai was 
realistic that outside of the QIZs it would be more 
challenging to make immediate improvements to labor 
conditions, since most ventures in Jordan are on a small 
scale, and do not have access to large amounts of capital. 
This contrasts with the QIZs, Rifai said, and their ability 
to centrally manage large numbers of workers and their 
working conditions. 
 
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LABOR MINISTRY: MORE INSPECTORS, MORE VOCATIONAL TRAINING, 
FIGHT POVERTY 
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7. (C)  In the January 28 meeting with LabMin, PolCouns 
emphasized the importance of labor standards in the FTA. 
Muhaisin seemed unaware of the FTA provision, and was more 
focused on reducing the demand for foreign labor at the QIZs 
by improving the quality of the local work force via 
vocational training programs.  More jobs would lead to less 
poverty, which is a cornerstone goal of the GOJ.  "Poverty is 
a national issue.  Jordanians like to act as if they are 
rich.  We are not.  We are poor."  Aside from vocational 
training for numerous "blue collar" fields, Muhaisin noted a 
new program, in conjunction with Jordan University, that 
focuses on "white collar" job training.  Muhaisin also said 
the ministry has hired more labor inspectors, bringing the 
total number to 85, and was implementing a program whereby 
inspectors get bonuses for uncovering labor violations. 
Finally, Muhaisin noted that segments of the agricultural 
sector (i.e. engineers) and domestic help are now covered by 
the labor law. 
 
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COMMENT 
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8. (C)  We were impressed with Rifai's knowledge of the 
emerging labor issues of most importance to Jordan in the 
near future, i.e. FTA and QIZ.  He is aware of the linkage 
between the FTA, the growing QIZ textile sector, and the 
resulting emergence of attention from international labor 
NGOs and unions.  Rifai's previous experience with the ILO, 
and his familiarity with Jordan and the GOJ should provide 
for a cooperative ILO-GOJ relationship.  We are pleased to 
see the ILO "social dialogue" program finally out of the barn 
and moving into action; as both ILO programs here are funded 
exclusively with Department of Labor money, we will continue 
to monitor them. 
 
9. (C) We expect Muhaisin's vocational training effort to 
have marginal effects despite his enthusiasm.  Labor and 
business sector contacts tell us the GOJ's programs are, at 
best, not as effective as they could be.  The programs are 
generally seen as poorly targeted (i.e. training an equal 
number of textile workers and hair dressers in an economy 
that has a shortage of the former and a surplus of the 
latter) and of inferior quality.  On the other hand, QIZ 
exporters train workers through in-house training over a 
six-week period, often with innovative training techniques. 
They report good results in their efforts to train local 
workers, but have limited floor space and resources to train 
as many Jordanian workers as they would like to have working 
for them.  Most QIZ exporters indicate they would like to 
work with the GOJ to train Jordanian labor, but have not been 
able to communicate effectively with the GOJ on how to best 
achieve this goal. 
 
10. (SBU) USAID has been working with the GOJ on modernizing 
its vocational training system and linking it with current 
market demand.  We will continue to encourage the Ministry to 
communicate better with management and labor in order to 
optimize their vocational training, and we expect the "social 
dialogue" program to provide some help in these efforts. 
GNEHM