AMMAN: Workers at a garment factory in northern Madaba on Sunday expressed their frustration with the administration’s policies in a dramatic way by setting up mock gallows.
Some 490 employees at Al Safi Factory for Garment Manufacturing in Mleih, located 22 kilometres to the south of Madaba, held the protest after the factory closed its doors to them when they decided to strike, according to Malek Qbeilat, head of the workers’ committee. “The poverty line in Jordan is JD500, and the average salary of Al Safi employees is JD210. We have been demanding raises for a long time but without any response,” he claimed. Qbeilat said the administration has had the plant closed for four days now, telling the workers that the factory will only open when they go back to work without any demands.
“It is not like we are calling for luxuries. We are incapable of providing for our basic needs, including water, rice and tea, with the salaries they give us,” Qbeilat told The Jordan Times over the phone on Sunday. He added that Sunday’s protest followed several strikes in the past and negotiations with the factory administration. Two of the protesters fainted during the demonstration on Sunday due to fasting and being exposed to the sun for long hours, according to Qbeilat, who said Civil Defence Department staff came to their rescue.
