New Oman’s Labour Law key to hope and action

The new Omani Labour Law promulgated by Royal Decree No. 53/2023 is of great importance at this critical stage in the era of the renewed renaissance led by His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik - may Allah protect him - and the great seriousness and commitment required by the country's labour and production system to lead the change we seek at all levels.

The Labour Law as legislation is one of the most important frameworks that lead to change in the private sector work. Despite the hardships hitting the labour market, the tensions among the production parties, the tough economic situation and the turbulent conditions besetting the world, the regulatory framework is the most important factor to ensure the rights and duties in any legislation.

Perhaps the issuance of the new law to regulate these relations between employers and workers is of enormous and utmost importance to establish clear rules that control any wrong practices or infringement of the rights of others.

This is what we must look forward to in the coming period under the application of this law, which we hope will do justice to everyone and leave no room for manipulation or circumvention of its provisions.

The most important thing in this regard is the serious application of the provisions of this law and following this up to maximise benefit from it and from other relevant pieces of legislation.

There is no doubt that the issuance of the law per se is a positive development that we should be optimistic about and to which all the relevant parties should respond in good faith. This will lead to the integration of the productive and creative process in order to achieve our hopes and fulfil the requirements of the coming stage.

We must all contribute to the success of the objectives and strategies of this process that is always aimed at creating a better and more prosperous future for this great homeland by the grace of Allah.

Laws have always been the frameworks and channels that govern dealings and transactions among people in all matters of their lives, and to which and to whose provisions opposing parties resort away from personal motives and desires. Human relations are supposed to always remain away from rivalries in different areas of life, and under this sophisticated and advanced concept, societies maintain the integrity of the social fabric.

Difference is already one the norms of life, so the laws are developed to keep it intact and free from harm and damage. Through this understanding, the sublime and shared goal in this field remains the same, which is boosting production and productivity.

If there is no full conviction about this fundamental point, laws and regulations will not be able to force the parties to join hands and unify efforts to achieve the goal. This is the crucial point that we must care about in the next stage and manage it so that legislation does not turn into a negative tool that eats away at the balance of the comprehensive development that we all seek to enhance and consolidate. This is the only path that we must seek so that citizens would enjoy well-being in its greatest sense.

In this context, and at a time when we demand the citizen to be a role model at work and show high ethics towards commitment to production and productivity to improve our national economy, advance the private sector and achieve gains and profits for companies so that our productive institutions, which we rely on, will not become more like charities. In addition, we do not want the citizen who is part of these productive institutions to be ineffective, and become just a required tool to support, activate, and boost requests for the recruitment of expatriate workers.

On the other hand, we demand that companies adopt a fairer attitude towards national cadres and work in accordance with principles and values that contribute to achieving justice among workers and give everyone his right, considering that such an approach is an sublime Islamic and humanitarian behavior that ought to be followed in all cases and under all circumstances.

The other party, meaning the government, must activate its mechanisms and extend all its supervisory arms to the parties to the contractual relationship to achieve the most cherished goal in the system of development projects, which is to provide job opportunities for citizens in their country and not just watch from a distance.

Previously many frameworks and legislation were not applied, which motivated some companies to move away from the law and not to respect and apply it. As I explained workers in public and private sectors were averse to any law or resolutions issued to regulate the labor market, because they did not feel that the competent authorities were serious enough to apply them.

Therefore, the new Laboor Law is seen as a good sign and aimed at regulating the market, with an emphasis on activating the mechanisms for application on the ground to overcome the pitfalls of the past.

We hope that this law will serve as a key to hope and action, and usher in a new stage among the parties of production and the crystallisation of new directions through which each party supports the other. The government must be firm in the law’s application to have a labour market free of flaws and contribute to the absorption of the people of the country.