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| Filipino domestic workers show the demands they've been pushing for years |
Migrant workers in Hong Kong reiterated calls for a “living wage” of HK$6,172 per month and improved living and working conditions as they joined a global celebration of International Domestic Workers Day yesterday, June 16.
According to a statement from the Asian Migrants Coordinating
Body, an umbrella organization of several migrant workers’ organizations, this was
the day the International Labour Organization passed the Convention 189 which provides
for decent work for domestic workers.
“June 16 marks the global anniversary of ILO Convention 189 and
the historic declaration that domestic work is work and deserves the same decent
treatment as other workers,” said the AMCB statement.
It added that more than 360,000 migrant domestic workers currently
support Hong Kong by doing household work, look after children, the elderly and
pets; and effectively serve as the backbone of the city’s economy.
“Yet domestic workers are denied dignity, equal, fair, and decent
treatment as workers and human beings,” said AMCB.
Their sacrifices and contributions to society are not recognized,
and their fundamental rights not protected by both Hong Kong and the sending
countries, said the group.
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| Indonesian workers echo the calls of their Filipino counterparts |
As such, they call on the Hong Kong government to take action on crucial
issues affecting migrant workers, like increasing the minimum wage to HK$6,172
a month, which is what they need to survive in Hong Kong and to cover the needs
of their families back in their home countries.
They also urge for regulating the work hours of migrant workers,
who they say clock between 16 and 20 hours of work each day, depriving them of
much-needed rest and sleep.
Another demand of long standing is to provide decent accommodation
and food for the workers, who by force of law, are made to live with their employers.
The group said many domestic workers are still forced to sleep on kitchen
floors, in corridors or inside modified closets, further adding to their
exploitation and mental stress.
Their calls also include an end to the mandatory live-in
arrangement for the workers, the two-week rule that forces them to return to
their home countries when they are terminated, and the malicious accusations of
“job hopping” which leave them in unsafe environments and escalate the abuse.
