‘Work returns to normal at Aqaba Container Terminal’

AMMAN — Workers at the Aqaba Container Terminal (ACT) resumed work on Wednesday morning, effectively ending a dispute with the management, according to an ACT source.

Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority Chief Commissioner Hani Mulki, who is also ACT chairman, held a meeting with members of the General Trade Union for Port and Clearance Workers on Tuesday night, and they agreed to resume work at the terminal after discussing pending issues, Project Implementation Manager at ACT Khalil Abu Al Hawa said.

“Employees agreed to resume work according to the new eight-hour shift,” Abu Al Hawa said, adding that they expressed their commitment to the ruling of the Labour Court.

The Labour Court ruling had reiterated the terminal’s right to adjust its shift system to meet its business demands, as mandated by the Labour Law.

The dispute was the third this year, after employees went on strike in July and October demanding better pay and benefits. The two strikes ended after management and staff reached agreements brokered by MPs and the Labour Ministry.

The latest dispute had started on December 1, when the management decided to change the work system from two 12-hour shifts to an eight-hour shift, and employees were concerned that the new system would affect their income.

The dispute led to a nine-day work stoppage that paralysed the movement of goods at the Aqaba Port.

“The 23 workers who were dismissed from ACT will return to work soon,” Abu Al Hawa told The Jordan Times over the phone, noting that they were fired, according to Article 28 of the Labour Law, after violating ACT regulations and using millions of dinars worth of vehicles recklessly, endangering their lives and those of others.

He also said that work flow in the terminal returned to its normal operating capacity after the work stoppage, during which operational capacity stood at nearly 40 per cent.

He said that 300-400 workers did not perform their duties during the stoppage, out of around 1,000 employees.