High numbers of workers in Jordan are employed on daily contracts and lack basic benefits and access to social security and health care. Throughout 2011, these workers held protests over their situation. According to Jordanian law, if a worker works for more than three months and is paid on a daily basis, he will be covered by the labour law and gain access to benefits and services under this law. In practice, however, this is usually not the case but the government has made extensive promises that such labourers would be made permanent employees. In May, some 200 labourers at the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) and the Ministry of Agriculture protested that they had not been granted permanent employment as promised. The workers had previously staged major protests in February 2010 calling for improved conditions, permanent employment, and extending employment benefits such as health insurance to the 1,200 day labourers working for the authority.
In October and December, several hundred agricultural day labourers in Karak Governorate reported receiving threats and harassment from officials during ongoing disputes over salaries and employment status after promises of permanent contracts did not materialise. The workers accuse the government of stalling in meeting their demands. Under labour law agricultural workers are denied the right to freedom of association.