Administrative reform is not measured by the number of sessions of the committee tasked with developing a reform roadmap, but rather by the long-awaited outcomes of this committee. We had hoped that its proposals would include a plan to combat administrative and financial corruption in all its forms and manifestations, to raise the efficiency of employees in this apparatus, and to provide them with material and moral support through the application of the principles of justice and equality, and to avoid favoritism in promotions and appointments at the expense of job performance. It would also include streamlining procedures, red tape, and office complexities with the aim of smoothing the workflow and providing convenient services to citizens. However, the committee's proposals have been disappointing, contrary to expectations.
Perhaps one of the strangest proposals is to abolish or dismantle the Ministry of Labor and distribute some of its tasks to ministries unrelated to the issue of labor and workers, knowing that this public facility was transformed from a labor department in the Ministry of Social Affairs into a Ministry of Labor specializing in labor and workers' affairs in 1976. Its tasks developed and its activities expanded locally and internationally, such that it became an important ministry that oversees labor and workers' affairs as a specialized subject with its own nature and complexities, which require specialized knowledge and understanding of this subject, and the application of the legislation governing this subject. The Labor Law, for example, gave the Ministry of Labor an important role in the field of labor relations, protecting and caring for workers while preserving the interests of employers and achieving stability and social peace. The chapters and provisions of this law addressed labor and workers' issues in the form of specialized units such as labor relations, settling labor disputes and collective labor agreements, labor inspection, vocational guidance and training, occupational health and safety, labor unions and employers' unions, employment and employment offices, workers' rights and obligations, labor contracts, Arab and international labor agreements, etc. All of these specialized topics are intertwined and connected to each other by links that make them issues of a single nature. They come together under one heading, which is labor issues.... Therefore, it is logical and in the public interest to place these issues under the jurisdiction of one ministry, which is the Ministry of Labor, and to work to support and develop this ministry, not dismantle it.
We have the right to ask here: Is there a country in the world that doesn't have a Ministry of Labor? Is it a wise decision to affiliate the Social Security Institution (workers' funds and rights) with a ministry other than the Ministry of Labor? Is it a wise decision to affiliate the Vocational Training Corporation with the Ministry of Education, given that it would be logical to document its connection to employment and training in the workplace under the auspices of the Ministry of Labor?
Based on the above, the recommendation to abolish the Ministry of Labor is a major mistake. If approved, this decision will be reversed after its flaws are discovered and after complications are introduced that we can do without. And Allah is the Grantor of success.
