Oil shale company’s laid-off, serving employees go on strike

AMMAN – Employees of the Jordan Oil Shale Company (JOSCO) started a work stoppage on Thursday until the fate of their laid-off colleagues is resolved. 

Sufian Nimri, one of the employees who were laid off this week and the protesters’ spokesperson, said a meeting between representatives of the JOSCO management, the Ministry of Labour and the employees did not produce an agreement to resolve the issue. 

“We heard that other employees will be laid off as well so all our colleagues decided to go on strike,” he told The Jordan Times over the phone.

President of the Trade Union for Workers in Mining and Metal Industries, Khaled Fanatsah, who was asked by the employees to be among their representatives, said the lay-offs are illegal.

“The Labour Ministry representatives told the management that the decision is illegal and urged them to reconsider; but they said the employees in question are no longer part of the company,” Fanatsah added. 

The management has laid off 82 out of its 200 employees, Labour Ministry Secretary General Hamadah Abu Nijmeh told The Jordan Times on Wednesday, confirming that the decision is illegal.

Abu Nijmeh noted that under the law, any company which wishes to lay off a substantial number of its employees has to do so through a tripartite committee that consists of representatives from the government, employees and the management.

A spokesperson from Shell, which owns
JOSCO, said the company has “decommissioned one drilling rig as it transitions from a drilling phase to a piloting stage of operations”, noting that WTS Energy Jordan employs the majority of onsite JOSCO staff.

A representative of WTS Energy Jordan said there are no details so far regarding the issue as meetings are still ongoing. 

Nimri said a tent will be set up outside the company’s office and all the employees, including those who are still at their positions, will take part in an open-ended strike.