This article analyses the rationale behind Jordan Phosphate Mines Company (JPMC) employees’ mobilisation within the context of the Arab popular uprisings. It discusses the claims of the protestors in light of their lived experiences of the workplace. It shows that the politics of JPMC is structured around the divide between the logics of meritocracy and the logics of wealth distribution rather than around the workers/owners divide. The origins of the meritocracy/wealth distribution divide can be traced back to the socio-historical trajectory of the Jordanian state. Yet, the article demonstrates that rather than merely reproducing tensions that shape Jordanian society at large, the meritocracy/wealth distribution divide is manufactured in the workplace itself, notably due to management practices that enable many employees not to work.