By Daisy CL Mandap
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| Thanks but no thanks, say leaders of the AMCB who have been calling for $6,014 minimum wage |
Migrant workers who had hoped to get their minimum
monthly salary raised to slightly above $6,000 this year were left sorely disappointed
when the Hong Kong government announced today, Friday, that the so-called
minimum allowable wage will go up to $4,730, or just $100 more than the
previous level.
The 2.2% salary hike is the first to be granted to
migrant domestic workers by the government in the past three years. For the
first two years of the pandemic, the MAW was frozen at $4,630.
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The monthly food allowance given to a small percentage
of the workers who are not provided food by their employers was also increased by
a mere $23, so it is now $1,196 from the previous 1,173.
The new wage levels will apply to all contracts signed
on or after tomorrow, Oct. 1. But FDH
contracts signed today or earlier at the existing MAW of $4,630 and food
allowance of $1,173 per month, will still be processed if they reach the
Immigration Department on or before Oct 28.
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Leaders of the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body, which
has been fighting for years to get the MAW raised to $6,014 – an amount they
call “living wage” – were left bitterly disappointed by the increase.
“The MAW at its current level of $4,730 is still 21%
short of the living wage and therefore, is still (at) slave-wage level,” said
AMCB spokesperson Dolores Balladares-Pelaez.
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While the $100 increase offers “slight relief” to
MDWs, it is still not enough to give them a living wage, she said.
According to AMCB, a study carried out by the British charity,
Oxfam, had determined that a worker in Hong Kong has to earn $54.70 per hour to
be able to live decently. But the helpers’ hourly rate of about $31.15
translates to just 56% of this so-called living wage.
AMCB’s push for a much higher salary increase was also
hinged on the lack of financial aid for FDWs during the pandemic. While permanent
residents and starting last year, also new arrivals, were given cash and
spending vouchers totaling $10,000 each year for the past three years, FDWs
were left out of the aid bonanza.
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“Migrant domestic workers suffered severely during the
pandemic, yet we continue to not receive any support or financial assistance
from the HK government,” said the AMCB.
The group also said it was not true that a
substantially higher pay is beyond the reach of most employers, as many managed
to offer much higher salaries when pandemic-related restrictions led to a severe
shortage of migrant workers.
“It is only the government that prevented it
(acceptable wage level) from happening,” said AMCB.
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The $100 wage increase would have pleased most
employers, but might have come as a surprise to employment agency groups, which
had forecast a new MAW of $4,800, referencing the 4% salary hike given to civil
servants recently.
In a statement, the government said that in accordance
with established practice, it had considered Hong Kong’s economic outlook and
labour conditions in the past year, including the impact of the Covid-19
pandemic in coming up with the new MAW.
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| BASAHIN ANG DETALYE |
Also taken into consideration, according to the
government’s statement, was the affordability for employers and the livelihood
of the FDWs.
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