Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2008, publiée 98ème session CIT (2009)

The Committee notes the Government’s report replying both to the comments addressed to it individually and to the general observation of 2007. It also notes with interest the detailed information on the work of the Directorate of Labour and Occupational Safety and Health Inspection for the years 2006 and 2007 and the Order of 2002 on compulsory employers’ records adopted under section 8 of Act No. 8 of 1996 issuing the Labour Code, as amended, and Regulation No. 56 of 1996 on labour inspectors, as amended.

Increasing the resources of the labour inspectorate in order to improve its functioning. Noting from a report of March 2007 by the Ministry of Labour that its financial resources have been on the increase since 2006, with a rise of 40 per cent anticipated for 2008, the Committee notes with satisfaction that the resources allocated to labour inspection were increased by 13 per cent in 2006 and 23 per cent in 2007.

It notes with interest from the same report that the ILO pilot project “Forced Labour and Trafficking” targeting the qualified industrial zones was to be carried out between March 2007 and March 2008 and that its aim was to raise awareness among all stakeholders (inspectors, police officials, magistrates, employers, workers, non-governmental organizations, etc.) of these problems and develop instruction handbooks to help resolve them.

The Committee also notes with interest the significant progress made in applying the Convention, as reflected in the above reports on the work of the Directorate of Labour and Occupational Safety and Health Inspection with regard to the following points.

Article 5(a) of the Convention. Cooperation between the labour inspection services and other public institutions. The Committee notes that in 2006 and 2007, the Directorate of Labour and Occupational Safety and Health Inspection engaged in effective cooperation with other departments at the national level: in the Quadripartite Technical Committee with the Ministry of Health, the Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Training and the National Social Security Institute; and in the Committee on the Prevention of Industrial Risks with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and other parties responsible, inter alia, for environmental issues.

The Committee also notes that pursuant to Regulation No. 7 of 1998 on the establishment of occupational safety and health committees and the designation of supervisors, qualified technical experts have been appointed in private sector enterprises and occupational safety and health committees have been set up in 34 enterprises.

In 2005, the third edition of Occupational Safety and Health Week was held with support from various enterprises and public and private institutions, including the Jordan Press Foundation. In the course of this event, 12 workshops were organized at various sites, attended by about 1,000 participants, and a brochure, a prospectus and other types of information materials were published. Furthermore, inspection forms were devised and distributed for use by inspectors in large and small enterprises and in the qualified industrial zones, where the workforce is largely composed of women. The Committee notes with particular interest that a special programme to computerize inspection reports has been prepared in cooperation with the Ministry’s information service and hopes that this will lead rapidly to the production of periodic reports and an annual report by the central inspection authority. The Committee also notes that foreign workers wishing to return to their countries of origin have received the necessary assistance to recover their entitlements upon their return. After 2006, earmarked by the Ministry as a year of priority for labour inspection, in cooperation with other public and private bodies and institutions, an Occupational Safety and Health Week was organized from 3 to 7 July 2007, with support from the Corporation for Reconstruction and other public and private institutions and, once again, the Press Foundation. Three other campaigns targeting violations of the legislation on the employment of immigrant workers were launched with cooperation from the Ministry of the Interior as a result of which provisional residence papers were issued to 5,000 illegal foreign workers and fines for breaches of residence laws that had been imposed on illegal foreign workers occupied in the qualified industrial zones were cancelled. Furthermore, workers employed in offending enterprises or enterprises ordered to close benefited from transfers to other enterprises that were in compliance with the law. The Government indicates in this connection that a new central inspection team has been established specializing in the supervision of workplaces and that it will be responsible for placing enterprises on a gold list or a blacklist based on their observance of the law.

Specific cooperation with judicial bodies. The Committee is grateful to the Government for having taken account of its invitation in the general observation of 2007 to take steps to encourage effective cooperation between the labour inspectorate and the judicial system aimed at attaining the objectives of the Convention. It notes in this connection that the Government is contemplating sending a letter to the courts asking them to send to the labour inspection department excerpts from decisions and judgements in cases of the breach of labour legislation so that the labour inspectorate can verify that the measures it has taken are effective and lawful, and that it envisages establishing an electronic system for communication with the judiciary.

Articles 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21. Work of the labour inspectorate and results. Content and publication of an annual inspection report. The Committee notes that a number of inspection campaigns were organized in 2007 in the qualified industrial zones, covering not only occupational safety and health but also general conditions of work. Numerous instances of abuses against workers were accordingly remedied and proceedings brought against the offending employers.

The year 2006, designated the Year of Labour Inspection, saw a significant increase in the volume and quality of inspection visits: 101,190 workplaces were inspected, the inspectorate was called on to provide advice and guidance in 25,630 instances, to issue 1,544 enforcement notices and to impose 10,639 fines. In 2007, labour inspectors carried out 69,869 inspections of workplaces, provided advice and opinions in 20,693 cases, issued 917 enforcement notices and imposed 6,216 fines.

Articles 6, 7, 9 and 10. Increasing the numbers and improving the qualifications of labour inspection staff. Pursuant to Regulation No. 42 of 1998 on prevention and medical care for workers, 26 doctors and 60 nurses specializing in occupational health were appointed to enterprises. The report on activities for 2006 indicates that a number of inspectors participated in inspection tours carried out by a team from the United States responsible for reporting on the situation prevailing in the industrial zones, and that occupational safety and health inspectors received specialized training at the ILO International Training Centre in Turin. The Committee notes with interest in this connection that a national occupational safety and health profile containing exhaustive information on all the aspects, laws, obstacles and objectives of occupational health in Jordan has been compiled in cooperation with the Turin Centre. According to the Government, this is the first national profile ever compiled and it will be the cornerstone for the development and investment of efforts deployed to this end in the country. In the course of 2007, some 20 inspectors received specialized training at the Turin Centre in several workshops were organized in cooperation with public and private institutions and with civil society bodies, and the Human Rights Centre cooperated in organizing three regional workshops (north, centre and south) for all inspectors in the country. Furthermore, measures were undertaken to improve the quality of inspection work pertaining to working conditions, including training courses for all inspectors on the principles of inspection and international labour standards and an evaluation of the qualifications of all inspectors enabling them to be classified into three categories. Furthermore, three training sessions were organized for 61 specialists and technical experts to provide them with further training in occupational safety and health.

Article 15(c). Confidentiality of the source of complaints. Action directed to foreign workers. The Committee notes with satisfaction that the Ministry has set up a free call-in telephone service for foreign workers, who may submit complaints – in various languages such as Hindi, Bengali, Sri Lankan, Filipino, Chinese and Indonesian – about improper living and working conditions (accommodation, overtime pay, minimum wages, wage arrears, ill treatment and passport confiscation). In the course of 2006, 141 individual and collective complaints were received involving over 2,000 workers, many of whom were employed in the industrial zones. According to the information provided, 75 of these complaints were resolved through the joint efforts of the Ministry of Labour and other relevant ministries. According to the 2007 report, 755 individual complaints and 56 collective complaints concerned workers in the qualified industrial zones in particular and 90 per cent of these were settled in cooperation with other competent ministries.

The Committee remains attentive to the substantial progress – either achieved or under way – in reinforcing the strength of the inspection system through a quantitative and qualitative increase in human resources and also through the cooperation efforts of the various public and private actors involved in the operation of the system, and the results achieved. It would be grateful if the Government would provide information on all developments occurring during the period covered by the next report on the application of the Convention, and particularly on the work of the inspectorate, including its volume and results, and measures to encourage cooperation between the labour inspectorate and the judicial system.

The Committee also asks the Government to provide details of the results of the measures undertaken by the inspectorate to target breaches of the legal provisions on conditions of work and the protection of foreign workers while engaged in their work.

Lastly, the Committee expresses the firm hope that as a result of the many projects for international or bilateral cooperation now under way, an annual inspection report containing information on each of the subjects listed in Article 21 of the Convention and presented as far as possible in accordance with the guidance given in Paragraph 9 of the Labour Inspection Recommendation, 1947 (No. 81), will be published shortly and that a copy will be sent to the ILO.