SENT VIA EMAIL 

H.E Dr. Bisher Al-Khasawneh 

Prime Minister of Jordan 

info@pm.gov.jo 

Copy 

H.E. Dr T Wajih Mosa Owais 

Minister of Education, Jordan 

moecs@moe.gov.jo 

Dear Prime Minister, 

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario stands in solidarity with the Jordanian Teachers’ Association 

On behalf of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) and our 83,000 members, I am writing to condemn the dissolution of the Jordanian Teachers’ Association (JTA) and the massive dismissals of teachers including 14 JTA leaders. 

We have been informed that leading members of the JTA have been arrested in connection with the recent World Teachers Day demonstrations. We wish to emphasise that the right to freedom of association is an international human right protected by the Constitution of Jordan and international treaties of which Jordan is a signatory. 

ETFO also deplores that the Government of Jordan unilaterally changed the employment regulations for civil servants by making it easier to terminate teachers’ employment without compensation or force teachers to retire early. We know the entire elected leadership of the JTA was summarily dismissed last year. 

This is a gross violation of JTA members’ rights to govern their own organization. Their greatest crime has been pressuring the government to follow through with their commitments to teachers following the month-long strike in 2019. We stand in solidarity with the teachers of Jordon and their commitment to their students and communities in the face of International Monetary Fund backed austerity policies.

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario therefore urges the Government of Jordan: 

• to unconditionally reinstate the dismissed leaders of the Jordanian Teachers’ Association and the 65 teachers who were forced to retire early; 
• to lift the suspension of JTA union activities; 
• to guarantee the fundamental rights and democratic freedoms of educators and all workers, including freedoms of expression and of association and the right to assembly, which are essential to the functioning of independent trade unions; and 
• to further reform national laws to bring them in line with international standards. 

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario stands in solidarity with our sister organisations in Jordan and will continue to closely monitor the human and trade union rights situation in the country. 

Yours sincerely, 

[original signed]

Karen Brown 

President 

Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario