About 140,000 teachers belong to the Jordanian Teachers’ Syndicate (JTS), established in 2011. On September 2019 ,5, a crisis erupted between the union and the government, during which the teachers organized a sit-in in the capital, Amman, to demand a pay raise. The security forces responded by breaking it up with force.
The crisis escalated after the security services arrested dozens of the protesting teachers, who decided to go on an open strike, which lasted for awhole month – the longest strike the country has ever witnessed.