Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 1999, publiée 88ème session CIT (2000)

The Committee takes note of the Government's report.

Article 2 of the Convention. 1. The Government's report states that protection of workers' and employers' organizations against any acts of interference by each other or each other's agents or members is implicitly recognized in the legislation. Furthermore, the Government's report indicates that the Minister of Labour issued a circular for the attention of workers' and employers' organizations in which the conformity of the provisions of the Labour Code No. 8 of 1996 with the provisions contained in Article 2 is stressed and the necessity of compliance in order to facilitate and regulate the work of such organizations is reiterated. Nevertheless, the Committee asks the Government to take measures to amend the legislation as to provide expressly for rapid appeal procedures, coupled with effective and dissuasive sanctions against acts of interference to ensure the application in practice of Article 2.

2. The Committee noted in its previous comments that, under section 3 of the Labour Code, domestic servants, gardeners, cooks and the like and agricultural workers are excluded from the application of the Code. The Government's report states that domestic servants, cooks and gardeners have been excluded pursuant to Jordan's legislation, customs and traditions with respect to the privacy of households and on the ground that any interference in their work and their inspection imply violation of family privacy. Regarding agricultural workers, the Government's report points out that they are not included in the provisions of the Labour Code because the agricultural sector represents a minor contribution to the national product and that it is characterized by instability and irregularity since most agricultural projects are seasonal. The Committee recalls that the Convention does not allow for the exclusion of such categories of workers from its scope. Therefore the Committee requests once again the Government to consider introducing legislative measures in order to extend the rights and guarantees of the Convention to domestic servants, gardeners, cooks and the like and agricultural workers.

3. The Committee requests the Government to inform it in its next report of any progress made in these matters.