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Labour Administration Convention, 1978 (No. 150) - Jordan (RATIFICATION: 2003)

The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report received on 2 September 2009 in reply to its previous comments, as well as the documentation received in April 2010. It requests the Government to provide additional information on the following points.

Articles 2 and 4 of the Convention. Ensuring the effective operation of labour administration activities delegated to a workers’ organization. In its previous comment, the Committee noted that workers’ education, which was previously one of the most important activities of the ministry and was carried out through its institutes, now lies within the competence of the General Federation of Trade Unions. It requested the Government to provide details on these activities and the manner in which they are undertaken. The Committee observes that the Government has not provided any indications allowing an assessment of the manner in which the trade union organization fulfils its responsibilities in relation to workers’ education (content, structures, accessibility to workers, organization, duration and arrangements, etc.).

Article 4 provides that each Member which ratifies the Convention shall, in a manner appropriate to national conditions, ensure the organization and effective operation in its territory of a system of labour administration, the functions and responsibilities of which are properly coordinated. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide information that is as detailed as possible in its next report on the manner in which workers’ education activities are undertaken by the trade union organization referred to above, with an indication of the fields covered, the methods of implementation and the objectives and results of such activities. It requests the Government to supplement this information with an assessment of the quality of the services provided by the trade union organization in light of the delegation of the labour administration activities.

Article 3. Matters of national labour policy regulated by having recourse to direct negotiations between employers’ and workers’ organizations. In reply to its previous comment on the activities relating to national labour policy regulated by direct negotiation between employers’ and workers’ organizations, the Government provides information relating to tripartite consultation bodies, such as those covered by Article 5. The Committee accordingly invites the Government to refer to paragraph 58 of the Committee’s General Survey of 1997 on labour administration, in which it will find explanations concerning the meaning of Article 3. Collective agreements are mentioned there as an important means of creating national labour standards, as illustrated in a particularly pertinent manner by the regulation through direct negotiations between employers’ and workers’ organizations of issues in principle relating to labour policy. Collective agreements may supplement legislative and regulatory texts in specific fields, it being understood that they may not lay down standards less stringent than those prescribed by law. These labour standards may then be adopted and extended by the legislator. The negotiation of collective agreements lies essentially within the competence of the social partners, although the public authorities may intervene through their extension. In its 1994 General Survey on freedom of association and collective bargaining, the Committee refers to Article 4 of the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98), under the terms of which “measures appropriate to national conditions shall be taken, where necessary, to encourage and promote the full development and utilization of machinery for voluntary negotiation between employers or employers’ organizations and workers’ organizations, with a view to the regulation of terms and conditions of employment by means of collective agreements”. In the light of these indications, the Government is requested to provide information on any activities in the field of national labour policy which are regarded as being matters which are regulated by having recourse to direct negotiations between employers’ and workers’ organizations, and to provide a copy of any relevant documents, such as enterprise, branch or sectoral collective agreements.

Article 4. Coordination and effectiveness of the labour administration system. The Committee notes that, contrary to its indication in the report, the Government has not provided a legible copy of the organizational chart of the labour administration system and has not provided the information requested in the previous comment on the effect given to this provision of the Convention. The Committee once again draws the Government’s attention to Paragraphs 19, 20 and 21 of Recommendation No. 158 on the forms which may be taken by the coordination envisaged in this Article of the Convention and it requests it to provide the ILO with a legible copy of the organizational chart of the labour administration system and also to indicate the manner in which it is ensured that the functions and responsibilities assigned to each of the services of the system are properly coordinated.

Article 5. Tripartite cooperation. Noting that, contrary to the indication in the report, the Government has not provided a copy of the statutes of the Economic and Social Council (CES), nor of Act No. 48 of 2008 amending the Labour Code, the Committee requests it to do so in the shortest possible time and to provide information in its next report on the operation in practice of the CES (issues addressed, opinions expressed, action taken as a result of its opinions, etc.) and of any relevant document, such as extracts from the report of its work during the period covered.

Article 7. Extension of the functions of labour administration to categories of workers who are not in law employed persons. While noting the Government’s indication that the scope of application of the amended Labour Code now encompasses agricultural workers and domestic workers, the Committee wishes to draw its attention to the fact that the objective of this provision of the Convention is to promote the extension of the functions of the system of labour administration to categories of workers who are not in law employed persons, an indicative list of which is provided in clauses (a)–(d). The Committee therefore requests the Government to indicate the measures adopted to progressively include these categories and other categories of workers who are not in law employed persons within the scope of the functions of the labour administration system and to provide any relevant text or document.

Article 10. Human and material resources of the labour administration system. Noting that, according to the Government, the budget allocated to labour administration represents 36 per cent of the government budget, the Committee would be grateful if it would provide more detailed information in its next report on the distribution of these resources between labour administration bodies, information on the composition, status and conditions of service of the personnel working therein, and on their qualifications and training.

The Government is also requested to describe the material means made available to such personnel for the performance of their functions.

Part IV of the report form. Information of a practical nature on the operation of labour administration institutions. While noting from the communication in the context of the obligations related to the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) of the annual report for the labour inspection services on developments in practice in the institution, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide extracts from any reports or regular information published by other bodies of the labour administration during the period covered by the next report on the application of the present Convention.