{"id":1341,"date":"2026-08-10T10:29:38","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T10:29:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/08\/10\/how-jordans-clothing-industry-exploits-migrant-workers-we-have-nowhere-to-go-with-our-complaints\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T10:29:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T10:29:38","slug":"how-jordans-clothing-industry-exploits-migrant-workers-we-have-nowhere-to-go-with-our-complaints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/08\/10\/how-jordans-clothing-industry-exploits-migrant-workers-we-have-nowhere-to-go-with-our-complaints\/","title":{"rendered":"How Jordan\u2019s clothing industry exploits migrant workers: \u2018we have nowhere to go with our complaints\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
Migrant workers sewing clothes in a factory in Aqaba, south-western Jordan.<\/span> Katharina Gr\u00fcneisl (2024)<\/span>, CC BY-NC-ND<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently issued its first-ever \u201cwithhold release\u201d<\/a> orders on garments made in Jordan. These orders, issued on June 23 with immediate effect, bar shipments from two factories run by Jordan-based clothes manufacturer Needle Craft from entering the US market. <\/p>\n

The case can be traced to the 2023 suicides of two young Bangladeshi women working in clothing factories in Jordan\u2019s Ad-Dhulayl industrial zone. In response, UK-based workers\u2019 rights organisation Labour Behind the Label launched an investigation<\/a> with the i newspaper. <\/p>\n

Their findings<\/a> drew international attention to allegations of forced labour<\/a> in the two factories \u2013 and helped prompt the<\/a> CBP to launch its inquiry. Needle Craft has not publicly responded to the allegations.<\/p>\n

Major US brands sourcing from Needle Craft, most notably Columbia Sportswear and Under Armour, have announced<\/a> they will address the issues raised directly with their supplier.<\/p>\n

The Needle Craft case is not an isolated instance of alleged abuse<\/a>. Rather, it is symptomatic of a labour regime in Jordan that is sustained by the exploitation of predominantly female migrant workers.<\/p>\n

\n \"A<\/a>
\n A map of Jordan\u2019s largest industrial zones for clothing production.<\/span>
\n David Lagarde (2024)<\/span>, CC BY-NC-ND<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A recent report<\/a> I co-authored with urban researchers Ahmed Zaazaa and Heba Zakarnah documents workers\u2019 everyday experiences of restricted mobility, dormitory life and deteriorating health in Jordan\u2019s clothing production zones \u2013 from Aqaba in the south to Al-Hassan in the north. <\/p>\n

The workers\u2019 stories, annotated maps and drawings<\/a> brought together in our report reveal how employer control and the relentless rhythms of global clothing production permeate every aspect of their lives.<\/p>\n

During peak production periods, migrant workers routinely work 12- to 14-hour days, with overtime often exceeding the legal limit of two hours per day. Strict production targets dictate every movement, limiting even toilet breaks. <\/p>\n

When shifts finally end, workers return to employer-run dormitories<\/a> adjacent to the factories. There, overcrowded living conditions and inadequate infrastructure turn everyday tasks into a struggle, as Lakmini, a 23-year-old Sri Lankan worker, explained: <\/p>\n

\n

When we finally arrive at the dormitory, we have to fight for hot water, for a stove to cook a quick meal, or simply for a moment of quiet in rooms shared by eight workers. Sometimes I don\u2019t know what is more exhausting: the factory, with its noise and dust, or the dormitory, with its terrible smell, constant arguments and endless queues.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n \"Top<\/a>
\n Top view of a women\u2019s dormitory room, based on workers\u2019 free-hand drawings.<\/span>
\n Heba Zakarnah (2024)<\/a>, CC BY-NC-ND<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jordan\u2019s export-oriented clothing industry emerged in the late 1990s. Under the Qualifying Industrial Zones agreement<\/a>, the existing US-Israeli free trade agreement was extended to 13 designated industrial zones in Jordan. <\/p>\n

These zones had been introduced as a form of commercial diplomacy in the wake of the 1994 Jordan-Israel peace treaty<\/a>, with the goal of fostering cross-border economic cooperation and creating employment opportunities in Jordan. <\/p>\n

Yet the significant commercial advantage of quota- and duty-free access to the US market motivated transnational, largely Asia-headquartered garment manufacturers to relocate parts of their production facilities to Jordan. <\/p>\n

To ensure the productivity and flexibility demanded by global clothing brands, these producers began sourcing labour from South and Southeast Asia \u2013 particularly from countries with established garment industries and an experienced workforce. <\/p>\n

Factories deliberately maintain a mixed-nationality workforce to impede worker solidarity. Preference is given to young women with limited formal education, who are considered easier to discipline and more likely to accept excessive overtime. Currently, young Bangladeshi women<\/a> make up the largest group of workers in Jordan\u2019s clothing industry.<\/p>\n

\n \"A<\/a>
\n Most workers in Jordan\u2019s garment factories come from Bangladesh.<\/span>
\n David Lagarde (2024)<\/span>, CC BY-NC-ND<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Living in employer-controlled industrial enclaves makes migrant workers available around the clock. Jordan\u2019s restrictive kafala<\/em><\/a> (sponsorship) system also ties migrant workers\u2019 residency and work permits to a single employer. This makes it almost impossible to change jobs. <\/p>\n

Taslima, a 26-year-old Bangladeshi worker who fled her factory because of abusive working conditions, described the consequences:<\/p>\n

\n

As soon as you leave your employer, you lose any right to stay in Jordan. My employer filed a complaint against me, so I cannot leave the country without paying a fine. I don\u2019t want to return to Bangladesh, but the verbal and physical abuse in the factory became unbearable.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Taslima\u2019s story is far from exceptional. The kafala<\/em> system pushes workers into irregular status and informal employment, while compelling many others to endure coercive conditions until they complete their contracts. These dynamics have been documented for more than two decades.<\/p>\n

Already in 2006, the US-based National Labor Committee exposed practices<\/a> of forced labour in Jordan\u2019s garment industry. This prompted the International Labour Organization (ILO) to establish the Better Work Jordan<\/a> programme to strengthen factory oversight. <\/p>\n

This has improved compliance<\/a> in some aspects such as transnational recruitment practices. But our report shows the structural foundations of Jordan\u2019s migrant labour regime have remained largely untouched.<\/p>\n

Jordan\u2019s authoritarian political context compounds workers\u2019 vulnerabilities. Freedom of association and assembly are tightly restricted<\/a>, while the only recognised trade union<\/a> for garment workers is politically co-opted and often aligned with employers. <\/p>\n

This leaves workers without effective avenues to defend their rights or articulate grievances, and explains why garment workers remain excluded from Jordan\u2019s national minimum wage<\/a> and health insurance systems. <\/p>\n

\n \"Migrant
\n Migrant workers walk back to their dormitories in Al-Hassan industrial zone, northern Jordan.<\/span>
\n Katharina Gr\u00fcneisl (2025)<\/span>, CC BY-NC-ND<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The CBP\u2019s \u201cwithhold release\u201d orders come at a moment when the research, testimony and worker organisation needed to document labour rights abuses are increasingly under threat. Tightening political repression, combined with the withdrawal of US funding for workers\u2019 rights monitoring and advocacy, have closed the last independent spaces available to migrant workers in Jordan. <\/p>\n

As one Indian worker reflected on the closure of the ILO-supported community centre in the Al-Hassan industrial zone:<\/p>\n

\n

It\u2019s not only that we\u2019ve lost a place to socialise. The real problem is that our employers know we have nowhere to go with our complaints. They use the difficult economic situation in the country to scare us into accepting forced overtime, withheld wages and terrible living conditions.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Katharina Gr\u00fcneisl’s research in Jordan was conducted as part of the Invisible Women, Invisible Workers project (https:\/\/www.invisibleworkers.org.uk\/sites<\/a>) at the University of Nottingham, funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) through a Future Leaders Fellowship (PI: Sabina Lawreniuk).<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Migrant workers sewing clothes in a factory in Aqaba, south-western Jordan. Katharina Gr\u00fcneisl (2024), CC BY-NC-ND US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently issued its first-ever \u201cwithhold release\u201d orders on garments made in Jordan. These orders, issued on June 23 with immediate effect, bar shipments from two factories run by Jordan-based clothes manufacturer Needle Craft […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1341\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}