Syria’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor is working to amend Labor Law No. 17 of 2010 through a participatory process involving representatives of workers, the government and employers, amid trade union demands for stronger legal and social protections for workers and guarantees of their rights concerning wages, contracts and social insurance.
Khalil Awad, director of Labor Regulation at the ministry, told Enab Baladi that the proposed amendments include numerous new safeguards. However, he explained that ensuring the effective implementation of the new law depends on three key factors: raising awareness, maintaining social dialogue and strengthening labor market oversight.
Awad explained that the first factor involves raising awareness among workers and employers of their respective rights and responsibilities.
The second factor involves maintaining a participatory approach and effective dialogue among representatives of workers, the government, and employers to address all labor-related issues. This would help stabilize labor relations, ensure a decent standard of living for citizens, and increase productivity at businesses, which would, in turn, have a positive impact on living conditions.
Regarding the third factor, Awad emphasized the importance of effective labor market oversight by developing labor inspection bodies, improving their governance, and incorporating digital technologies into their operations to enhance transparency and ensure effective protection for workers in the workplace.
These safeguards come as the General Federation of Trade Unions calls for broader legal protections for workers. The federation wants the amendments to go beyond wage regulation to include the documentation of employment contracts, social insurance coverage, and protection against unlawful dismissal, alongside stronger oversight of workplaces and working conditions.
The federation’s previously reported proposals to amend Law No. 50 of 2004 and Law No. 17 of 2010 included linking wages to the cost of living, establishing a mechanism for periodic reviews of the minimum wage, requiring employers to provide workers with copies of their employment contracts and registering eligible workers with the social insurance system.
A Participatory Process
Regarding the General Federation of Trade Unions’ proposals, Awad confirmed that the ministry had adopted a participatory approach based on effective social dialogue among representatives of workers, the government and employers in discussing all matters related to labor relations.
He explained that the preparation of the draft amendments went through two stages. The first involved reviewing and discussing the proposed amendments by a group of human resources experts, representatives of the General Federation of Trade Unions, representatives of the federations of chambers of industry, commerce, tourism and agriculture, and several specialized ministry employees.
Awad added that this committee prepared the initial working draft of the proposed amendments to Labor Law No. 17 of 2010.
The second stage began with the issuance of Ministerial Decision No. 1198 on April 20, 2026, establishing a specialized committee to review the initial working draft prepared by the previous committee.
According to Awad, the committee included representatives of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, the Faculty of Law at Damascus University, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Administrative Development, and the General Organization for Social Insurance. It also included representatives of the ministry’s technical departments and the Legal Affairs Directorate, the General Federation of Trade Unions, and the federations of chambers of industry, commerce, tourism and agriculture.
He said the committee reviewed the initial working draft and the provisions of Labor Law No. 17 of 2010 before preparing a preliminary draft of the proposed amendments, following discussions of all legal provisions and reaching agreement on most of them.
Wages, Contracts and Social Insurance
Regarding the main observations and demands of the three parties involved in the labor relationship, Awad said they included ensuring the effective implementation of provisions promoting decent work. These focused particularly on guaranteeing fair wages commensurate with the work performed and sufficient to provide workers and their families with a decent standard of living. They also covered issuing employment contracts, registering workers with the social insurance system, and regulating working hours, leave, weekly rest days, and overtime.
According to Awad, the demands also included simplifying procedures, strengthening decentralization, accelerating administrative processes, accommodating digital transformation and modern technologies, and promoting voluntary compliance with the law and social dialogue between the General Federation of Trade Unions and the federations of chambers of industry, commerce and tourism.
He noted that the demands also called for deterrent penalties proportionate to the seriousness of violations, particularly breaches of legal provisions governing the employment of minors, occupational safety and health, failure to register workers with social insurance, and failure to provide employment contracts.
These demands overlap with the General Federation of Trade Unions’ earlier proposals, which called for protecting workers against unilateral changes to essential employment contract terms, requiring employers to provide written reasons for terminating contracts when legally required, guaranteeing fair compensation for unlawful dismissal, and protecting workers from retaliation for filing complaints.
The union proposals also included strengthening protection against workplace injuries, occupational diseases, disability and old age, improving the effectiveness of labor inspection and oversight bodies, providing safe and confidential channels for submitting labor complaints, and offering legal assistance to workers unable to afford litigation costs.
Impact on Working Conditions
Social protection researcher Ahmed Suleiman told Enab Baladi that amending the labor law represents an important step toward reorganizing relations between workers and employers. However, he stressed that the success of the amendments should not be measured solely by the content of the legislation, but by their actual impact on working conditions and workers’ ability to secure their rights.
Suleiman said the ministry’s emphasis on dialogue among representatives of workers, the government and employers reflects an understanding of the importance of involving relevant stakeholders in drafting legislation. However, he argued that such dialogue must produce clear and binding safeguards, particularly regarding wage determination, the documentation of employment contracts, social insurance registration and protection against arbitrary dismissal.
He added that one of the most significant challenges is the widespread prevalence of informal employment, with many workers lacking documented contracts or insurance coverage. This limits their ability to benefit from legal rights, even if more progressive legislation is adopted. Addressing this problem therefore requires developing labor inspection bodies, providing them with the necessary human and technical resources, and ensuring they can access workplaces, monitor violations and take corrective action.
According to Suleiman, the ministry’s move toward digitalizing labor inspection operations could improve oversight, facilitate the monitoring of complaints, and help document violations. However, he cautioned that digital systems must not replace on-site inspections and should be accompanied by clear mechanisms for accountability and remedies for workers.
Suleiman concluded that the fundamental test of the amendments will be their ability to improve workers’ actual circumstances, particularly those of the most vulnerable groups and employees of small businesses and poorly regulated sectors, while ensuring they have effective access to social protection.