Port workers are getting  organised at the APM Terminal port of Aqaba, Jordan.

July 2007

For the first time, workers of the port of Aqaba in Jordan now have the chance to join a union and negotiate collective agreements.

June 2nd about 460 port workers participated in elections for seven union representatives. There are now 548 union members out of a total of 800 workers at the terminal, according to Bilal Malkawi, of the ITF’s Arab World Regional Office. Maersk owned port operator APM Terminals recognises the union and even helped with locations for the election, he explains.

Insisted on individual contracts

Relationships between unionists and management haven’t always been this good, though. Until September 2006 Aqaba Container Terminal  was a state owned company, and therefore port workers were not allowed to unionise. When the port was privatized, the efforts to establish a union grew and therefore port workers who were in fact civil servants, were not allowed to unionise.

"In the beginning, Maersk insisted on having individual contracts for the port workers instead of collective bargaining", the newly elected union general secretary Mohammad Khraisat says.

That has changed now. Indeed the company welcomes the new union, says terminal manager Patricio Junior, "We are getting to know each other in a very professional and respectful way. Dialogue is good and promising. We believe that people make the difference and as such we believe in, and hope to continue, the good and constructive dialogue with the unions in the future".

A good start
The union leader agrees. "This is a good start. The company management recognises the union now, accepting dialogue and collective bargaining. We wish to have this positive environment always", Mohammad Khraisat adds.

He says that the workers committee and the APM management have agreed to meet once a month to discuss the working conditions in the port.

The ITF Maersk Network has been in contact with both the government of Jordan and APM Terminals about accepting and recognising the union over the last year.

APM Terminal started operating in the port in a joint venture. In August 2006 the port giant which is managed in the Netherlands, won a 25 year contract at the strategically important port.

The Aqaba port gives access to a range of Middle East countries and is especially useful for transport to Iraq.