Every morning, Sona starts her routine at 6 am with breakfast and a cup of tea, which she shares with a colleague who lives with her in Ad-Dulayl, northern Jordan.
After getting ready for the day, she leaves with her female colleagues for the short walk to the textile factory. The group of women stay close together, wary of potential assault or verbal abuse along the way.
When they reach the factory gates at the Ad-Dulayl Industrial Park, Sona pauses to check in before entering.
Her shift runs from 8 am to 4 pm with just a 15-minute break, making each day gruelling as the women spend hours at their sewing machines under intense pressure and constant supervision.
Dissipated dreams
In 2018, Sona moved from Bangladesh to Jordan, hoping to earn enough to support her family back home.
She found work in a garment factory, but the food provided was so poor that she had to buy her own and cook in her room — an expense she could not afford on a monthly salary of 200 Jordanian Dinars (JD), or about $282, which is below Jordan’s minimum wage.
Although she had left Bangladesh to earn money, Sona soon found herself spending more than she earned to survive. By the end of that year, she decided to quit and return home.
Two years later, another opportunity arose — a new factory job in Ad-Dulayl. Struggling to make ends meet in Bangladesh, she accepted the offer and returned to Jordan in 2021, this time bringing her two-year-old son with her. While the job offered better pay than her previous one, she was shocked to discover that no leave was permitted.
“One time, I fell ill and felt generally exhausted,” she tells The New Arab. “I went to the factory doctor, but he didn’t care. He gave me Panadol and told me: ‘Go work.'”
Ad-Dulayl QIZ in Jordan [Shoorok Omar/The New Arab]
In Amman and across Jordan, many migrant workers are employed in industries such as agriculture, construction, and domestic service. Most of these workers come from countries including Egypt, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and the Philippines [Getty]
Sona’s story highlights one aspect of the dark reality faced by Jordan’s migrant workers.
According to the 2023 report, Conditions of Migrant Workers in Qualified Industrial Zones, published by the organisation Tamkeen, around 58,000 migrant workers are employed in 63 companies within Jordan’s Qualifying Industrial Zones (QIZs), which were set up in the early 2000s to strengthen trade ties with Israel, with support from the United States.
In Jordan’s labour market in 2024, Bangladeshi workers ranked first at 12.8 percent, followed by Ethiopian workers (9.5 percent), Indian workers (5.4 percent), Filipino workers (4.1 percent), and Sri Lankan workers (3.4 percent).
But, most shocking of all, Tamkeen’s 2024 report documented approximately 153 complaints filed by migrant workers, including cases of wage withholding, passport confiscation, denial of leave, violence, and extortion.
Denial of leave
Without a doubt, Sona’s experience is not only unfair — it is also illegal under Jordan’s labour framework, violating two key articles of Labour Law No. 8 (1996).
Article 61, for example, states, “Every worker has the right to annual leave with full pay for a period of fourteen days every year of service, unless otherwise agreed upon.”
This increases to 21 days if the worker has spent five years with the same employer, and official, religious, and weekly holidays are not included.
As for Article 62, it states, “Every worker has the right to 14 days sick leave during one year, with full pay, based on a report from a doctor approved by the institution.”
Khawla Abdallah, a field coordinator at Tamkeen, says workers in Jordan’s QIZs are often denied these rights.
She adds that in many factories, there appears to be an informal agreement between management and factory doctors to prevent workers from taking leave, even in emergencies — a serious violation of workers’ rights.
Khawla also explains that many workers are reluctant to file complaints due to fear of verbal abuse, dismissal, or even deportation.
A protest in Amman against the signing of the Jordanian-Israeli trade agreement regarding the establishment of Jordan’s Qualified Industrial Zones (QIZs) on 23 December 2004 [Getty]
The Ministry of Labour’s media spokesperson, Mohammed Al-Zyoud, says the ministry processes work-related complaints in several languages through its digital platform, Himaya, which allows non-Jordanian workers to raise concerns confidentially.
He adds that Himaya includes a ‘confidential complaint’ option for cases related to wages or leave.
Khawla recalls one disturbing incident: “One worker felt extremely unwell during her period. When she requested a short break to rest, the manager insisted on accompanying her to the prayer room to ‘verify’ her condition. The worker felt humiliated, but, despite the violation of her privacy and the unethical nature of the request, she complied. Afterwards, she was given a sanitary pad and a painkiller, then forced back to work.”
Lower than minimum wage
Another widespread violation, according to Tamkeen, involves the withholding of wages and overtime allowances — breaches of Article 46 of Jordan’s Labour Law.
Although the national minimum wage in Jordan is 260 JD, the clothing and textile sector is exempt under the argument of ‘competitiveness and labour market density’.
Instead, the sector’s minimum wage is determined through consultations between factory owners and the workers’ union, often leaving workers with less pay than employees in other sectors.
To make ends meet, Sona works two extra hours every day beyond her official shift to cover her and her son’s living expenses. This brings her monthly income to around 350 JD, compared with just 200 JD at her previous factory, where she received no overtime pay.
Translation tricks
Over the years, Tamkeen uncovered another troubling violation against migrant workers.
Khawla says that while working with foreign workers in Ad-Dulayl, they observed that factory management often insisted on selecting the translators themselves.
When Tamkeen asked workers questions in Arabic — for instance, whether they had ever taken leave — the factory’s translators would respond with answers like: “She’s taken her holidays; everything is fine.”
However, Tamkeen began to suspect these were not accurate translations. When the organisation brought in independent translators, workers’ answers told a very different story.
“No, I don’t take holidays,” one worker said. “I work 24 hours.”
Even outside the factories, migrant female workers find little relief. They are often subjected to verbal abuse, muggings, and even have stones thrown at them by children.
Khawla says these incidents are made worse by negative perceptions among locals, fuelled by rumours of “moral violations” inside the factories.
“One woman I know would wear a full prayer outfit to cover her face, just to avoid being seen and confronted by that kind of behaviour,” Khawla says.
Weak inspections
Labour law expert Hamada Abu Najma says weak labour inspections remain a significant problem due to a shortage of inspectors compared with the number of establishments.
“Technology must be used to monitor law enforcement,” he says.
He adds that while the textiles sector is the backbone of production in the QIZs, many factories are reported to commit violations related to wages, long working hours, and passport retention. Union representation, he says, is often symbolic and fails to protect workers’ rights.
Mohammed from the Labour Ministry weighs in, saying the number of inspectors has increased and that inspections are now recorded with audio and video. A direct link has also been established between the ministry’s central control room and field inspectors, allowing real-time monitoring.
He adds that during visits, inspection teams now request all legally required documents, and appropriate measures are taken depending on the severity of any violations found.
However, Abu Najma argues that despite recent improvements — including stricter penalties for forced labour — many violations persist.
“The absolute dependency of migrant workers on their employers leads to multiple rights violations and exploitation,” he says.
“This problem can only be addressed through a comprehensive review of legislation, particularly regarding freedom of movement, the right to change jobs, the retention of personal documents and the ability to file complaints freely, as Jordanian workers can.”
He believes international buyers could play a role in improving working conditions in QIZ factories, but their influence ultimately depends on the factories’ willingness to comply.
Yet, as decisive action fails to materialise, migrant women in Ad-Dulayl factories continue to face the same violations and risks as other migrant workers across Jordan, highlighting the urgent need for stronger oversight and enforcement of labour laws to ensure safe and fair conditions for all.
Angrily, Sona says, “After spending nearly three years in this factory, working like a machine, not a human being, I’ve decided that once I finish, God willing, I’ll return to my country. That’s it.”
Shurooq Alnsour is an investigative and data journalist based in Jordan with a focus on underreported social and environmental issues
Article translated from Arabic by Rose Chacko