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| The group calls on the Labour Department and Legco to freeze FDW salaries |
A concern group has called on the government to freeze the minimum allowable wage for foreign domestic helpers, saying this would be in line with the current freeze on salaries of civil servants, and the economic pressure faced by most households.
The group Quadripartite Alliance for Harmonious
Employment Practices (QAHEP) picketed the Labour Department office in Sheung
Wan and submitted a formal petition to legislative council members on Tuesday
to push their cause.\
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| Pindutin para sa detalye |
In an interview, the association’s spokesperson
Chrystie Lam pointed out that Hong Kong’s unemployment rate has gone up to 3.5
percent while the economic growth forecasts remain steady at 2 to 3 percent.
This was why the decision to raise the FDWs’ minimum
allowable rate to $4990 effective October last year was “contradictory to current policy
direction,” said Lam.
She backed this up with findings from a survey of
392 employers which showed that as much as 93 percent of them had problems
related to loans. As many as 72 percent claimed they had been harassed by debt
collectors.
In some cases, the FDWs used their employer’s
address to secure loans, more than a year after taking up employment. Worse,
they applied for loans even after they had left their employers’ home.
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The call for the wage freeze came about a week after
FDWs picketed the Labour Department to demand a “living” wage of more than
$7,000, on top of defining “suitable accommodation” and "adequate food" in their
work contracts.
