Jordan

The Committee notes the observations of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) received on 1 September 2021 concerning matters examined in its previous comments and the continuing anti-union measures against the Jordanian Teachers Association (JTA). The Committee recalls that the ITUC provided observations in this regard in 2020. The Committee also notes the Government’s response.
The Committee notes that the ITUC reports the following anti-union measures against the JTA: (i) the arrest and detention of JTA members (July-August 2020); (ii) the filing of criminal charges against the organization and its president (July 2020); (iii) the closure by the Government of the JTA offices for two years (July 2020), which effectively deprives teachers and education personnel of any representation; (iv) the prohibition by the authorities of the press from covering JTA press conferences (October 2020); (v) the issuance by the Amman court of first instance of a decision authorizing the dissolution of the JTA executive board and imposing one-year prison sentences on the 13 board members for various offences (December 2020); the union leaders were released on bail and the JTA appealed the decision; and (vi) the arrest by security services of 230 teachers who were peacefully demonstrating during the meeting between the JTA deputy director and members of the Parliamentary Education Commission (January 2021).
The Committee notes that, according to the Government, the JTA is a trade union established under the Jordanian Teachers’ Union Act No. 14 of 2011, which deviates from the definition of trade unions contained in section 2 of the Labour Code, and is not therefore subject to the provisions on the functioning of trade unions established in section 98 of the Labour Code. The Government therefore considers that the JTA is not covered by the scope of application of the Convention. The Government further indicates that the suspension of the JTA’s activities and the closure of its offices follow a court decision regarding violations of Act No. 11 of 1993 on economic offences. It adds that an interim committee to manage the union’s administrative and financial affairs during the suspension of its executive board was established to safeguard teachers’ rights, pending a final court decision. The Committee recalls that the rights conferred by the Convention on teaching staff, in particular the right to collective bargaining, require the existence of independent trade union organizations which can freely carry out their activities in defence of the interests of their members without interference by the public authorities. The Committee urges the Government to take the necessary measures without delay to guarantee the right to organize and to bargain collectively in the education sector and to ensure full respect of the independence of workers’ organizations in the sector. The Committee, trusting that the above principles will be fully taken into account by the competent courts, requests the Government to provide information on the outcome of the current court proceedings involving the JTA and on any collective agreement or accord in the education sector, including with the JTA.