"Unified contract for migrant garment workers unveiled at Amman forum", 04 April 2015

A new unified contract for all migrant workers in Jordan’s garment sector was announced at Better Work Jordan’s international buyers’ forum in the capital on Thursday. Facilitated by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the terms of the standardised contract were agreed upon by two apparel employer associations and Jordan’s garment union. It is one of the main provisions of a sector-wide collective bargaining agreement signed in 2013 between the Jordan Garments, Accessories and Textiles Exporters’ Association, the Association of Owners of Factories, Workshops and Garments, and the General Trade Union of Workers in Textile, Garment and Clothing Industries. "The unified contract represents the culmination of many months of hard negotiations between the employers, the garment union and the Ministry of Labour and represents a significant step towards the elimination of discriminatory practices between the different migrant worker nationalities,’’ said Better Work Jordan Programme Manager Phillip Fishman during the Buyers’ Forum, attended by Labour Minister Nidal Katamine and US Ambassador to Jordan Alice G. Wells. The contract will help end the practice of some migrant garment workers signing one contract in their home country, and then a different contract when they arrive in Jordan. Also, the contract will give them a clearer understanding of their work conditions...