Conflicting statements confuse agricultural workers about when they will be covered by the insurance

Rania Al-Sarayrah - Al-Ghad

Amman - The government remains unclear regarding its intention to include agricultural workers in social security coverage, in accordance with an article in the Agricultural Workers Law that obligates employers to do so.

While Communiqué No. (41) allowed agricultural holding owners to suspend the application of the article and limit it only to the inclusion of workers in work injury insurance until the end of 2022, the Social Security Corporation indicated its intention to postpone it again until the end of 2023.

The new postponement, hinted at in a recent statement by the Social Security Corporation, contradicts another statement issued by the Ministry of Labor on the same day, in which Minister of Labor Nayef Steitieh, in his capacity as Minister of Labor and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Social Security Corporation, confirmed that the validity period of Circular 41, which stipulates that farmers will be fully covered by social security and all insurance, will expire at the end of this year, meaning they will be fully covered by the beginning of next year.

Hamada Abu Nijmeh, director of the Workers' House, explains this by confirming that there is "pressure from employers to delay the implementation of the system and even attempts to cancel it, as they believe that this system imposes financial burdens on them and affects their economic capacity." He considers that "this expectation is false and incorrect, given the sector's chronic labor shortage, the poor conditions for decent work, and the flight of Egyptian expatriate workers to other sectors, due to low wages, difficult working conditions, and the lack of protection."

Abu Nujma stressed that "what is happening is not in the interest of employers, as it will exacerbate the labor shortage problem that the agricultural sector has been suffering from for a long time."

The story began at the beginning of May of last year, when the government approved the Agricultural Workers System and published it in the Official Gazette, to be implemented immediately after waiting more than 13 years for its approval. The system includes 17 articles, Article (A) of which states: “The agricultural employer is obligated to include his workers in the insurance covered by the provisions of the Social Security Law if the provisions of the Social Security Law and its amendments and the system of inclusion in the insurance of the General Organization for Social Security and its amendments apply to them.”

Two months after the issuance of the system, the government issued Circular No. 41, Article 3 of which stipulates that “the agricultural holding may suspend the application of old-age, disability, death, maternity, and unemployment insurance for all or some agricultural workers who must be included in the provisions of the Social Security Law in accordance with Agricultural Workers System No. (19) of 2021, provided that they are included in these insurances as of 1/1/2023.”