Jordan- Land department employees suspend strike, return to work 

(MENAFN - Khaleej Times) Work at the Department of Land and Survey (DLS) went back to normal on Tuesday morning, after its employees suspended a two-week-long strike late on Monday.

The employees decided to suspend the strike after Finance Minister Suleiman Hafez agreed to present their demands to the Cabinet by September 25, Omar Abu Al Samin, president of a committee representing the striking employees, told The Jordan Times.

If the minister does not follow through on this promise or the Cabinet fails to act on the employees' demands, however, they may resume their work stoppage, he said.

On September 4, employees at the DLS began an open-ended strike, asking for salary raises on par with employees of other departments of the finance ministry, as well as better working conditions and incentives.

Abu Al Samin said the workers were busy processing real estate transactions held over from the strike, which lasted for 10 working days.

By noon on Tuesday, the north Amman DLS branch processed 100 contracts, whereas they normally process only two or three a day, he claimed.

The DLS said last week that the strike had caused over JD100 million in lost real estate market activity, but Abu Al Samin said any losses would be regained when the employees returned to work and processed the transactions filed during their absence.

The Jordan Times tried to contact officials at the Ministry of Finance and the DLS, but they were not available for comment.

The DLS has around 1,600 employees working in 34 branches across the Kingdom.

According to DLS figures, trading in the real estate sector during the first eight months of this year amounted to JD3.481 billion.

Revenues generated by the department between January and August stood at JD199.6 million.