By Daisy CL Mandap
 |
| A token protest to mark International Migrants Day is held outside the Central Government Offices |
A minimum wage of no less than $6,014, working hours
that do not exceed 11 hours a day and guaranteed long service pay after five
years of uninterrupted service were among the key demands migrant organizations
raised in a letter addressed to Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Saturday, Dec 18.
The letter was handed out by representatives of the
Asian Migrants Coordinating Body and the International Migrants Alliance during
pocket protests they staged at various government offices as well as the
Philippine and Indonesian consulates to mark International Migrants Day.
 |
| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
In their letter, the two groups said the foreign
domestic workers’ current minimum wage of $4,630 a month amounts to only $31.15
per hour, which is just 56% of the $54.70 hourly rate for a “living wage”
prescribed by a study conducted by Oxfam.
Despite this, a study by the Mission for Migrant
Workers found that 98% of the workers worked long hours. Over 70% were found to
work between 11 to 16 hours a day while almost 30% work more than 16 hours
daily.
 |
| CLICK THIS TO REGISTER FOR FREE! |
The Covid-19 pandemic made the 380,000 migrant
domestic workers even more vulnerable to abuse, said the letter.
In an online survey conducted by the Mission in
March, nearly half (40%) of the respondent workers said they had not been
allowed to go out of the house for a month, 25% slept less compared to the
previous month, and 50% reported working longer hours.
 |
| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
And
yet migrant workers had been left out of the financial support the government
had extended to most sectors of the society to ease the hardships wrought by
the pandemic, said the migrants.
“Based
on our computation and studies of a standard living wage, the minimum wage of
MDWs in Hong Kong should be no less than $6,014 per month and a food allowance
of $2,600…” said the letter.
 |
| Protest outside Immigration, which is accused of unfairly labeling migrants 'job hoppers' |
On
top of this, the migrants demanded that the standard employment contract for
foreign domestic helpers be amended to provide “for a continuous 11-hour rest
periods between two consecutive work days plus meal breaks for live-in domestic
workers.”
 |
| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
A notable addition to their demands is the provision of long service payment to all domestic workers who work continuously for at least five years with the same employer.
“We
demand the Hong Kong government, regardless of who decides not to renew their
contract, to guarantee payment of long service after five years of service of
work for one employer,” said the letter.
 |
| PRESS FOR DETAILS! |
Currently,
no long service pay is due a domestic helper if he or she is the one who
decides not to renew a contract or pre-terminates it, no matter how long the
worker had served the employer.
 |
| Protest outside the Philippine Consulate focused more on corruption |
Another
new demand is that Immigration Department stop labeling domestic workers who do
not complete their work contracts as “job hoppers.”
“We
reiterate that migrants are actually forced to stay in abusive working
conditions (rather) than resign for fear of being judged as 'job-hoppers', and
then forced to go home,” said the letter.
 |
| Pindutin para sa detalye |
Providing
domestic workers with a living wage and reforming policies that put them in a
vulnerable position would enable the Hong Kong government to show its
recognition of their valuable contribution to society, the migrant groups said.
 |
| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
