Thank you very much.
Good morning. My name is Jeff Vogt. I'm the legal advisor to the Department of Human and Trade Union Rights at the ITUC. The ITUC is a global confederation of 176 million workers worldwide, including workers in Canada.
Again, thank you for this invitation to testify before the Standing Committee on International Trade on the subject of the proposed Canada-Jordan free trade agreement.
While there are many aspects of this trade agreement that deserve careful consideration, as they impact workers both in Canada and in Jordan, I'll focus my remarks today on whether the Kingdom of Jordan currently complies with the commitments it must undertake under the bilateral agreement on labour cooperation. From our view, the simple answer is no.
Article 1 of the agreement on labour cooperation provides that each party “shall ensure that its labour law and practices embody and provide protection” for eight categories of principles and rights, the first four being the ILO core labour rights as set forth in the ILO declaration on fundamental principles and rights of work, as well as four additional categories, including: acceptable minimum employment standards; compensation, such as minimum wages and overtime pay; the prevention of occupational illnesses and injuries; and non-discrimination in respect of working conditions for migrant workers.
While the Kingdom of Jordan has instituted some reforms in recent years, their labour code still falls short of the requirements of article 1. For example, article 98 of the labour code requires a minimum of 50 workers to form a union. According to the ILO treaty on freedom of association, the establishment of a trade union may be considerably hindered or even rendered impossible when the minimum number of members of a trade union is fixed at obviously too high a figure, as in this case, where the legislation requires that a union must have at least 50 founding members.
Second, article 98 of the code also authorizes a tripartite committee to define those industries in which workers may form trade unions and prevents workers from forming more than one union in each of them. Again, the treaty on freedom of association states that establishing a limited number of occupations with a view to recognizing the right to associate violates the principle that workers of any occupation whatsoever should have the right to establish organizations of their own choosing.
Section 10 of the code requires that the treaty set up the general confederation of trade unions. However, the question on whether we need to form a federation or confederation as needed is to be determined solely by workers and organizations. Moreover, a monopoly situation imposed by laws is at variance with the principles of freedom of association.
Although a 2010 amendment eliminated language that specifically forbids migrant workers from joining trade unions, the law includes language that forbids migrant workers from forming unions of their own choice. The law maintains the requirement that founding members be Jordanian nationals. Thus, the right to organize foreign workers is not fully guaranteed; they are not authorized to participate in the establishment of a trade union or participate as leaders.
Further, the ILO recently noted this year that while the labour code forbids accident interference, fines for violations of this provision remain between 50 and 100 Jordanian dinar, which is between $70 and $140 U.S., and which the ILO considers to be far too small to have any decisive impact.
Those are just some of the highlights of the ways in which the current legal framework does not comport with the first article of the agreement on labour cooperation.
Moreover, under article 3 of the agreement on labour cooperation, the Kingdom of Jordan has an obligation to effectively enforce its laws. In the garment sector, conditions have improved somewhat since 2006, when there was an exposé by the national labour committee—and I think the head of that organization will be testifying later today—as well as trade complaints filed by the AFL-CIO over the U.S.-Jordan bilateral trade agreement, which brought attention to horrendous working conditions in the qualifying industrial zones.
Since 2008, the ILO has established the Better Work program, which covers a number of factories in the QIZs with Jordan. However, their third synthesis report, which was issued just a couple of weeks ago, revealed several serious problems in the QIZs.
With regard to forced labour, the ILO noted in a report just a couple of weeks ago:
The issue of recruitment fees to a third party remains a serious concern. Migrant workers often are required to pay substantial fees to recruitment agents and sub-agents in their home countries. Workers in over 40% of factories indicated that this debt adversely affects their freedom to leave their jobs. There are no provisions in Jordanian law to ensure that workers have not been recruited under such circumstances.
...
Better Work Jordan has [also] observed a practice in some factories under which workers who terminate their contracts are required to stay on the job until a replacement is found, sometimes for a period of several months.
With regard to work hours, Jordanian law does not impose a general limit on total overtime or maximum number of total hours per week and thereby tolerates excessively long work days and work weeks, with excessive work hours and compulsory overtime remaining a major concern of Better Work Jordan.
[Another] area of concern is disciplining workers using physical punishment or humiliating treatment. In six factories...
—which was 25% of those reviewed in the report—
....it was found that workers were either subjected to verbal or physical abuse, or were threatened if they did not complete their production targets.
With regard to dormitory conditions, there are no minimal standards in Jordanian labour law, and inspectors do not regularly inspect dormitories.
The report found that there were serious issues with regard to ventilation, bathing facilities, sewage, protection against heat or cold, insects, and fire. These issues persisted in nearly half the factories assessed.
The report also noted that “in one factory, thirty-two workers were denied allowances and bonuses for having participated in a strike”.
“In recent months, Better Work Jordan has refined its assessment of freedom of association especially [with regard to] interference and discrimination”, and it noted in its report that it anticipates that in the future there will be many more findings of non-compliance as a result.
The problems are, of course, not limited to the garment export sector. We find violations of the labour code throughout the Jordanian economy, but I think as an initial assessment of the situation, I'll leave it there.
I'm happy to take any questions you have with regard to Jordanian labour law practice.
Thanks.