6,228 illegal guest workers arrested since January

AMMAN — The Labour Ministry has implemented 40,161 inspection campaigns on various institutions across the country since the beginning of the year to ensure commitment to the Labour Law, ministry spokesperson Mohammad Khatib said on Saturday.

The official said that the campaigns resulted in arresting 6,228 illegal guest workers, 3,975 of whom received deportation decisions for violating the law, in addition to sending 2,559 advice letters to the facilities, 2,141 warrants for violating the law, 279 closure warrants and 2,490 fines.

He added that a total of 192,309 guest labourers received work permits in the same period, 39,635 of whom for working in the agricultural sector, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Egyptian workers accounted for 60 per cent of the total number of guest labourers and Syrians for 10 per cent, while the biggest percentage of foreign workers were registered in Irbid, followed by Zarqa, Balqa and Amman, Khatib said.

The same period witnessed 28 labour conflicts, 25 of which were solved through direct negotiations, one through a conciliation mediator, one through the conciliation council and another through court, Khatib said, adding that the ministry dealt with five strikes since the beginning of the year.

In the same period, 27 collective work contracts were signed, which benefitted 23,088 employees with a value of JD3.595 million, according to Petra.

According to the ministry’s statistics for 2017, the total workforce in the Kingdom stands at about 2,600,000 people, 1,200,000 of whom are migrant workers, mostly from Egypt, Syria and Asian countries, like the Philippines and Sri Lanka.

It is also reported that 30,000 foreign workers are employed in the construction sector and about 70,000 in agriculture.