The paper analyses the protests of the unemployed against Jordan Phosphate Mine Company (JPMC) in southern Jordan between 2011 and 2012. The JPMC is the largest actor of the Jordanian mining sector. It plays an important role in underpinning the growth of many important sectors in the economy. While, as a public-owned company it was one of the main employers of the population living nearby the phosphate mines, the company stopped hiring among them after its privatization in 2006. Based on a socio-anthropological approach, the study of the negotiations between the protesters, the JPMC managers and the state provides fruitful insights to understand the reshaping of the rulers-ruled relationships in times of privatization as well as the “Arab Spring” effect on this process. After having analysed the protesters’ claims, we show that through their demands they are actually asking for a fairer wealth redistribution based on a certain understanding of “corruption”. We then look more closely at the negotiation process that, despite the privatization, brought in a wide range of public actors – including local authorities, security forces, the Hashemite monarchy, parliament members and government members – all involved at different moments and degrees. Though the negotiations were framed as purely “economic”, we show how the rulers’ power position was performed and reasserted through the negotiation process. Finally, we discuss the reshaping of authority relations at the local level between the elders and the younger generation, the institutional and non-institutional leaders, as well as the role of the state in the process.