Bridging the gap: Social divides and coalition building in the phosphate-mining industry in Jordan

ABSTRACT

Research on coalitions mainly focuses on the formation of coalitions between well established, formally and politically organised groups. Less attention has been placed on coalitions that form between groups that are not formally organised but, nonetheless, identify themselves and others as clearly distinct social groups. Through the analysis of the coalition of employees that formed in the Jordan Phosphate Mines Company in 2011, this article argues that the study of such coalitions not only opens up new analytical perspectives for a better understanding of coalition building and its ‘transformative’ effects, but also represents an insightful analytical tool to investigate the micro-sociological dynamics of local political arenas. After examining the processes of dissociation and association that make the JPMC employees’ protest movement a coalition, the article discusses the effect of coalition building in reshuffling pre-existing divides, and the political significance of such reshuffling in the Jordanian context.

KEYWORDS:

• Coalition building
• social divides
• professional hierarchy
• tribal identity
• labour protests
• Jordan

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The East Banker/Palestinian divide plays a minor role in JPMC because the recruitment process does not allow Palestinian nationals into JPMC (Source: Interview with JPMC’s human resources manager, Amman, February 2014).

2. Interview with JPMC employees, various sites, May-June 2013.

3. Interview with local political leaders, Maʿān, January 2013.

4. Interviews with JPMC employees, various sites, April-July 2012 and January-February 2013.

5. The JPMC privatisation deal nourishes suspicions of corruption because, unlike other privatisation deals in Jordan, it was negotiated in the utmost secrecy and brought to the head of the company, not a foreign shareholder, but an individual closely related to the Hashemite monarchy, Walid El Kurdi, who is the husband of Princess Basma, the sister of late King Hussein.

6. Interviews with JPMC employees, various sites, April-July 2012 and January-February 2013.

7. Road blockades and other forms of sabotage, such as cutting water and electricity supply, are repertoires of action commonly used by the ābnāʾ āl-manṭiqah.to raise claims and express discontent.

8. Interview with a JPMC employee posted at the ʾAbyiaḍ, company town in Ḥasā, June 2012.

9. Interview with one of the leaders of the local ILU committee for the ʾAbyiaḍ mine, company town in Ḥasā, May 2012.

10. Interview with a JPMC employee who belong to the Ḥajayā tribe, company town in Ḥasā, July 2012.

11. The names have been changed to guarantee the anonymity of my interlocutors.

12. The employment relationship is understood as a sustained hierarchical material exchange that produces mutual duties and obligations between the employer and the employee. These mutual duties and obligations are informed by certain norms and values, which underpin the employment relationship, and are constitutive of the ‘moral economy’ of the employment relationship (For a discussion of the notion of ‘moral economy, see Fioroni, 2018).

13. Interview with one of the leaders of the local ILU committee for the ʾAbyiaḍ mine, company town in Ḥasā, May 2012.

14. Interviews with the leaders of the ILU, Amman, July 2014.