Cairo Amman Bank drivers protest layoffs

AMMAN —  Cairo Amman Bank (CAB) employees are protesting "sudden" layoffs that the administration says are in light of new regulations on firearms and ammunition.

Over 20 drivers who carry and protect transported money at the bank were recently laid off after CAB sealed a deal with a professional money transport company, said Khaled Obeidat, one of the laid-off workers, on Sunday.

He noted that the majority of laid-off workers had been with the bank from seven to sixteen years and fall in the age bracket of 40 to 50 years of age, which makes it difficult for them to get new jobs.

They have also recently taken housing loans from the bank, and so could face jail term if they fail to pay monthly dues for three months in a row.

On Sunday, laid-off workers protested in front of the bank's headquarters, but were not given any attention.

Another laid-off worker, Sultan Dmour, said he took a housing loan worth JD44,000 six months ago, with monthly dues over JD200 that he would not be able to pay now that he is jobless.

Mohammad Noubani said his monthly financial commitments are already "huge", with two of his children studying at universities.

"I looked for another job but I was only paid JD200," he told The Jordan Times.

CAB General Manager Kamal Bakri said the new firearms and ammunition law prohibits bank employees who transport money from carrying firearms, noting that it is "unsafe" for money to be transported without high security measures.

The bill also seeks to set stricter legal punishments against violators, with a view to reducing weapon-related crimes and injuries across Jordan and to limit citizens’ ownership of weapons of all types, with exceptions made for security and military personnel. 

The draft law also includes a ban on weapons being carried during official or public celebrations, such as protests, weddings and funerals.

Therefore, the bank floated a tender for money transportation companies, whose employees are allowed by law to carry firearms and use armoured vehicles, Bakri said. 

Outsourcing money transportation to specialised companies means the bank no longer needs employees who drive, carry and protect transported money, he added.

"In our contract with the company that won the bid, we included a condition that they hire the employees we laid off," the bank manager told The Jordan Times on Monday over the phone, adding that the bank offered each laid-off worker a month's salary for each year of service, as well as fixing the interest rate of their housing loans.

Bakri explained that if workers filed a legal complaint against the ban, the court will require the bank to pay them half a month's salary for each year of service.

"We laid them off gradually, and some of them have already started working at the security company we are dealing with," he said, adding that 30 employees in total have been laid off, and there are no intentions to laying off employees in other departments.

Haider Rashid, the president of the General Association of Banks, Insurance and Auditing Employees, said the syndicate has been in direct contact with laid-off workers since day one, a little over a month ago.

He added that the association officially addressed the Labour Ministry and the Lower House labour committee to take action, noting that sending work inspectors "will not be enough".

Rashid added that laying off two or three employees a week over the past few weeks is still considered "collective layoffs".

He expected the situation to escalate if no action is taken.