For the second day in a row, owners of domestic workers recruitment agencies continue protesting in front of the Ministry of Labour building against the Ministry of Interior and Labour Ministry's decision to stop granting visas to domestic workers who come to Jordan from Uganda.

President of the domestic workers recruitment agencies union, Ahmad Faouri, said that the union began a series of escalatory measures after discussions with the Ministry of Labour became pointless following the Interior Minister's decision to stop granting visas to Ugandan workers, as 111 cases of communicable and infectious diseases were registered among workes.

Faouri noted that the Labour Ministry, in response to the sit-in, deliberately did not mention the number of Ugandan workers who came to work in Jordan, which reached 21,157 domestic workers within a year and a half, so as not to mention the number of workers suffering from diseases.

The percentage of domestic workers suffering from diseases reached 0.0006, while the normal rate should not exceed 4%.

Faouri further stated that the Minister of Health is the one who must make the decision instead of the Interior Minister, since the Health Minister is the one responsible for health issues of the citizens, confirming that the Interior Minister, Salameh Hammad barely knows about this matter.

He also said that Minister Hammad took the decision without referring to anyone and without receiving any recommendation or advice from the Health Minister.

Faouri noted that the Minister of Labour, Nidal Batayneh attempts to discourage owners of domestic workers recruitment agencies, which provide the government with about JD 40 million of its annual profits, from defending their livelihoods through threats that he makes through posts on social media platforms, such as dissolving the union and setting new standards for licensing agencies.

He announced that the agencies' owners are willing to ask the Minister of Labor to compensate them for the losses they suffered which were estimated at over than JD 500,000.

Also read: Labour Ministry explains why it stopped granting visas to Ugandan domestic workers