Panel refers minimum wage issue to Cabinet

AMMAN — The trilateral committee for labour affairs on Sunday decided to refer its recommendations on raising the minimum wage to Labour Minister Nidal Katamine, who will refer it to the Cabinet to take a decision.  

The committee had failed to reach a consensus on the issue, Labour Ministry Spokesperson Mohammad Khatib said Sunday.

The committee, at a meeting chaired by Katamine, reviewed a study presented by a technical committee formed to consider this issue, Khatib added, according to a ministry statement.

The trilateral committee consists of the labour minister as chair, and nine members representing the ministry, employers and employees.

At a meeting with members of the Lower House Financial Committee in late 2015, Katamine said the raise of the current wage, JD190, may vary from one profession to another, and may be higher for female workers with lower employment rates.

Over the past few years, the General Federation of Jordanian Trade Unions has been calling for increasing the minimum wage to JD300, its president, Mazen Maaytah, told The Jordan Times in a recent interview.

The national annual poverty line for 2010 was set at JD813.7 per individual.

According to international agreements that Jordan has signed, the minimum wage must apply to all workers in the Kingdom, without any discrimination based on their nationalities.