Jordan’s Workers Find Their Voice Through Legal Training and Stronger Trade Unions

GFJTU President Khaled Al-Fanatseh placed the training within the Federation’s wider effort to reach workers across workplaces and sectors, expand awareness activities and strengthen its membership.

Understanding an employment contract, recognising unfair dismissal or knowing where to report harassment can make a difference to a worker's confidence and security. Women and men in Petra, southern Jordan, are building that knowledge through a second phase of specialised legal training designed to help them recognise workplace rights issues, access protection and take a more active role in trade unions and discussions about their working lives.

The training forms part of the Norway-supported Equality@Work project, implemented by the International Labour Organization's Decent Work for Women Programme, and was delivered with the General Federation of Jordanian Trade Unions (GFJTU) through "The Power of Unions" initiative. A Royal Norwegian Embassy delegation attended the programme, which combines legal awareness with practical exercises and information about routes to protection and participation, bringing workers' experiences into the conversation.

Making workplace rights easier to understand and exercise

Participants explored rights and obligations under Jordanian labour law, covering employment contracts, wages, working hours, leave, termination and unfair dismissal, alongside protections available through the Social Security Law. Sessions examined employment injury, maternity, unemployment and old-age benefits, giving workers a clearer understanding of the support connected to different stages and circumstances of their working lives.

Discussions about violence and harassment covered the forms these can take, available protection and complaint mechanisms, and the ILO Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019 (No. 190). Real-life cases, questions and group exercises helped participants analyse labour rights violations and connect legal information with situations they might encounter at work, with sessions on trade union membership explaining how collective participation can strengthen their ability to raise concerns and seek protection.

ILO Country Coordinator in Jordan Amal Mowafy described workers' knowledge, confidence and participation as the foundation of stronger trade unionism. Birgitte Wessel, Head of Cooperation at the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Jordan, stressed that turning awareness into practical change requires cooperation among workers, unions, employers, national institutions and international partners, so information reaches the people who need it and supports their involvement in social dialogue.

Stronger unions give workers more room to participate

GFJTU President Khaled Al-Fanatseh placed the training within the Federation's wider effort to reach workers across workplaces and sectors, expand awareness activities and strengthen its membership. He connected investment in legal knowledge and union capacity with stable labour relations and fairer, more inclusive workplaces, reflecting a reform agenda that prioritises women's and men's empowerment, stronger legal protection and more capable trade unions.

Adnan Al-Sawaeer, Chief Commissioner of the Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority, highlighted the complementary responsibilities of partner institutions, including the Ministry of Labour and the Social Security Corporation in regulating the labour market, enforcing legislation and protecting workers. The programme's focus on participation gives workers a way to bring their own needs and priorities into these discussions, making their experiences part of decisions affecting workplace conditions.

Women's experiences help shape lasting institutional change

Representatives from the ILO, Norwegian Embassy and GFJTU visited training centres, associations and women-led initiatives in Petra, hearing about women's experiences in jewellery-making, clay handicrafts and food production. Conversations explored access to training and employment, opportunities to develop economic activities and the challenges women encounter, connecting the legal sessions with the realities of earning a living locally.

The broader ILO–GFJTU cooperation builds on a Participatory Gender Audit that identified gaps and priorities in women's participation within the union movement. That process has contributed to Women's and Youth Committees, work on a Federation-strengthening strategy, internal policies addressing violence and harassment and women's representation in decision-making, and specialised units focused on migrant workers, the green economy and a just transition. Together, these measures connect evidence with institutional change and help workers turn knowledge of their rights into the ability to exercise them.