Syndicate opposes ‘three-month paid leave’ for Lafarge workers

AMMAN — The General Association for Construction Workers on Sunday rejected Lafarge Jordan’s decision to give workers at its Fuheis cement factory a three-month paid holiday.

The association requested that Lafarge provide the workers with guarantees that they will receive their full rights after the three-month paid vacation ends.

The paid leave went into effect on March 2, Lafarge said in a statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times on Saturday, indicating that the move aims to reduce costs at the cement factory, while also protecting the health and safety of workers from any potential accidents.

The decision comes after production halted at the Fuheis cement factory in 2013 while the packing and grinding operations at the factory were stopped in July 2016, the company said in the statement.

President of the General Association for Construction Workers Mahmoud Hiyari said on Sunday that the workers at the Fuheis cement factory oppose the company’s decision.

“We demand that Lafarge signs a binding early retirement system and an end-of-service bonus for every worker in order to guarantee their rights,” Hiyari told The Jordan Times.

Around 200 workers are affected by the decision, according to both Lafarge and Hiyari.

“We will take the case to the International Labour Organisation in Geneva if the company fails to guarantee the rights of the workers,” Hiyari underscored.

The decision, aims to reduce variable costs, such as water, electricity and transportation, according to an official company source, who declined to comment to The Jordan Times on the fate of the workers once the paid holiday ends, saying that “while it is still unclear, the company deems workers’ full rights as its priority”.

In the statement, Lafarge said that it is fully committed to the financial and administrative rights of the cement factory workers during the paid holiday.

The company source said the three-month paid leave “is not meant to pave the way for layoffs of the factory workers”.

The decision excluded a number of workers whose administrative roles require their presence at the factory, according to the statement.

The company operates two cement factories in Jordan, one in Fuheis, which is 20km northwest of Amman, and another in Rashadiyeh in Tafileh Governorate, which is 180km southwest of the capital.

The Rashadiyeh cement factory was established in 1983 by the Southern Cement Company, which was merged in 1985 with the Jordan Cement Factories Company, which, in turn, was subject to privatisation and bought by Lafarge.

The Fuheis cement factory, established in the 1950s, stopped operating in 2013 due to pressure from the local community over its environmental impact.

The residents of Fuheis have been protesting against the cement plant for many years, claiming that dust and chemical emissions from the cement factory harm their health. They have been also calling for the closure of the factory and its relocation.