Jordan- UNRWA workers begin open-ended strike 

(MENAFN - Jordan Times) UNRWA staff started an open-ended strike on Sunday, shutting down basic services for Jordan's 1.5 million Palestinian refugees.

Nearly all of the agency's 7,500 employees responded to a call by their representative councils to hold a work stoppage commencing May 6 in protest against UNRWA's "reluctance" to meet their demands, which include a JD100 pay raise retroactively from the beginning of this year without any cut in their incentives.

The employees are also demanding promotions for teachers, directors and supervisors; filling of vacancies in all the agency's sectors; and the improvement of work conditions.

The strike has "knock-on effects" on all of the Kingdom's Palestinian refugees, who depend on UNRWA for their livelihood, according to the agency.

"Shaker Risheq, head of UNRWA's employees' union in the five fields of operations, tried to mediate between the administration in Jordan and heads of workers councils during the first day of the strike, but his attempts have failed to resolve the issue," said a head of one of the employees' councils, who preferred not to be named because he was not authorised to speak on the record.

"The administration has rejected our demands again and insisted on raising our salaries by 5 per cent at the beginning of June this year" they also offered us a 10 per cent raise as of next year, which is still far less than what we were demanding," the source said.

He added that the staff would continue the work stoppage until UNRWA met their demands.

"We also want the agency not to deduct the days of the strike from our salaries," he said.

On the other hand, UNRWA Spokesperson Sami Mshasha on Sunday told The Jordan Times that the agency's offer for employees was "quite generous", taking into account the "tough year" the organisation is going through.

"We are concerned about the current events taking place in Jordan and we urge the agency's administration and employees to return to the negotiating table," said the spokesperson, who resides in Jerusalem, adding that the workers "should bear in mind that UNRWA had offered them a 5 per cent raise this year and would double it next year".

Last week, the administration said the gap between public sector employees and those working in UNRWA went down from 25 per cent in recent years to 6 per cent as a result of the government's 2012 salary restructuring plan.

"However, most UNRWA posts remain above the comparator [gap], except for some positions, particularly in the health sector, which have fallen below the comparator line," the agency highlighted.

A source close to the agency told The Jordan Times earlier that the salary gap between UNRWA and public sector workers should ideally stand at 21 per cent, due to the fact that the latter enjoy more benefits, such as scholarships and makrumas or Royal grants.

"It's true that we have raised the salaries of the agency's workers in other fields of operations, but this had to do with the fact that the governments in their respective countries had raised their employees' salaries," Mshasha said, noting that 80 per cent of the agency's budget in Jordan goes to salaries.

"We appreciate the efforts of our employees to provide vital services to Palestinian refugees and hope that they understand that their strike severely affects students, particularly as final exams are around the corner," he added.

A source from an UNRWA workers' council in the Kingdom said he was "surprised" at the way the agency was handling their demands, saying that its position had "dangerous political connotations".

"We [UNRWA staff] are suffering from difficult economic conditions as our salaries are not in line with the rising prices in Jordan," he noted.

The strike affects 177,000 students enrolled in 174 UNRWA-run schools across Jordan and thousands of patients benefiting from the agency's healthcare centres, according to Anwar Abu Sukainah, a public information officer at the agency.

"The medical centres receive around two million patients each year," she noted.

Among those affected was Khadija Jabr, who was supposed to undergo a medical checkup on Sunday and receive her monthly medications.

"I suffer from high blood pressure" I think I will have to buy my medicines this month instead of getting them from UNRWA," the 64-year-old Al Hussein refugee camp resident said.