Egyptian workers stage Jordan pay protest

AMMAN: Around 200 Egyptian workers staged a peaceful protest Sunday outside the Amman governorate accusing their employer of not paying them, state-run Petra news agency reported. It said the unidentified firm failed to keep a promise to pay the workers 200 dinars ($280) monthly and provide them with living quarters and legal residency in Jordan. Several workers told Petra the employer had confiscated their passports, forced them to work 16 hours daily rather than the legal eight and paid them only half the promised salary. Others said they had not been paid in more than two months. Amman Governor Saad Al-Manasseer met the workers and pledged to investigate their complaints, Petra said. Around 200,000 Egyptians work in Jordan, mostly in construction, and make up the largest foreign workforce. Their protest came days after Labor Minister Bassem Salem and Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit toured an industrial estate after complaints by Asian textile workers. The government will not tolerate violations of workers rights in the Qualified Industrial Zones or any other workplace, the press quoted Bakhit as saying. Jordan pledged in May to crack down on abuse of foreign workers after a damning report by a U.S. rights group detailing alleged violations in textile factories in the so-called Qualified Industrial Zones that export mostly to the United States. AFP