Public sector engineers stage partial strike

AMMAN — Public sector engineers on Wednesday and Thursday held a partial strike, which was organised by the Jordan Engineers Association (JEA), at their workplaces to protest the government's “unresponsiveness” to engineers' demands for salary raises, JEA Council Member Muhammad Mahamid said on Thursday.

The strikes were held from 11am to 1pm on Wednesday and Thursday, according to the JEA's Facebook page.

“As a consequence of the government’s lack of response to the JEA’s requests, the engineers’ rights to the promised 2012 bonuses and the 180 per cent salary increase demands have been breached,” Raed Hadadin, president of JEA’s Public Sector Committee, told The Jordan Times on Thursday.

The partial work stoppage, conducted over two days, was an attempt by public sector engineers to voice their concerns to the government, as "neither salary raises have been granted nor necessary steps taken towards enhancing the financial status of engineers", Mahamid told The Jordan Times. 

“Using the same mechanism, the second strike on Thursday lasted three hours, with the presence of engineers from different fields, but due to rainy weather conditions engineers working on certain projects and roads have been requested to take precautions and stop their strike,” Mahamid added.

The JEA council is responsible for reaching out to the government, and JEA’s Public Sector Committee, chaired by Raed Hadadin, is the operational arm of the JEA, entrusted with overseeing the association’s operations and providing substantive support to engineers affiliated with the association, Mahamid said.

“The Public Sector Committee is the only legal entity affiliated with the JEA, and any other commissions are established for the purpose of furthering the association's credibility, transparency and democracy,” the committee president stressed.

Jordanian engineers have a distinguished reputation that has been built through their numerous contributions in "building national codes", Hadadin said, adding that their concerns should not be marginalised.