Lafarge Jordan (LafaregHolcim group) announced on Saturday that it was giving its workers at the Fuheis cement factory a three-month paid vacation to reduce costs.



The paid vacation went into effect as of 2 March, according to Lafarge, which said in a statement that it guarantees full commitment to the financial and administrative rights of the cement factory workers during the paid leave.

 The decision excluded a number of workers whose administrative jobs necessitate their presence at the factory.

"Around 200 workers are included in the decision, which seeks to reduce variable costs, such as water, electricity and transportation. It also seeks to eliminate any accidents that might happen to the workers at the factory while it is not operational," the source told The Jordan Times.

The source did not comment on the fate of the workers once the paid vacation ends, indicating that "while it is still unclear, the company deems workers' full rights as its priority".

The company operates two cement factories in Jordan, one in Fuheis, which is 20km northwest of Amman, and another in Rashadiyeh in Tafileh Governorate, which is 180km southwest of the capital.

The Rashadiyeh cement factory was established in 1983 by the original company, the Southern Cement Company, which was merged in 1985 with the Jordan Cement Factories Company, which, in turn, was subject to privatisation and bought by Lafarge.

Fuheis cement factory, established in the 1950s, stopped operating in 2013 due to pressure from the local community over its environmental impact.