By The SUN
 |
| I have always been with you on this, Congen Tejada tells the community |
Consul General Raly
Tejada has made an impassioned plea to the Filipino community to express disapproval over a proposal by the Hong Kong Labour Department to effectively
legislate the so-called “job hopping” by foreign domestic workers.
“Please participate. Huwag po nating sayangin yung pagkakataon na
maipaabot po natin ang ating saloobin,” he said. (Let’s not waste the
chance to relay our concerns)
He made his call during
a Filcom meeting at the Consulate today (Sunday), the first since the pandemic
swept across the city. Key officials from the Philippines’ Department of
Migrant Workers joined him at the forum to respond to questions from community
leaders.
Congen Tejada said all
members of the community should make their views known during the ongoing
public consultation on amending the Code of Practice for Employment Agencies to
include job-hopping.
“Let’s flood the public
consultation with our voice. Kung hindi
pa sila makinig, hindi po ba? (that should force them to listen to us)”, he
said. “If we lose this chance,
ano na ang mangyayari sa atin (what
would happen to us)?”
He said everyone could
just go to the website set up for the public consultation and send an email
simply saying “I do not agree”. That should only take about five minutes, he
said.
“211,000 tayo, what is
190,000 na domestic workers? That is a lot of people, baka mag crash ang
kanilang website.” (There are 211,000 of us, while there are only 190,000 domestic workers. That is a lot of
people, their website might even crash).
He was emphatic in
assuring the leaders that he is with them in opposing the plan to include in
the CoP a provision requiring employment agencies to warn FDWs against job-hopping, and inform employers about
refunding fees or giving them a replacement helper.“A hundred percent I am
with you, I have never wavered,” he said, prompting the audience to clap their
hands in approval.
What prompted his
response was a question from a Gabriela Hong Kong leader who asked if the
Consulate was ready to come out with a public statement expressing support for
the workers’ opposition to the plan.
“Why not? Why will I not
support you? I will do it on my own terms but you cannot tell me what to write
ha?,” he replied, obviously irked.
He later tempered this by
saying “Sorry, I am being too passionate, but I’m with you, don’t worry about
it. Don’t doubt it for a second, please.”
He had previously
rejected suggestions from militant leaders in the community that the Consulate
was keeping quiet on the issue so as not to create a diplomatic ripple.
He said that during
his talks with Hong Kong’s Secretary for Labour Chris Sun, he has always argued
that migrant workers have the right to change employers, so that should not be
seen as job-hopping.
“Lagi po naming sinasabi na ang ating mga workers hindi lilipat kung walang
abuse, walang non-payment of salaries…kung hindi kaaya-aya ang working
conditions kami po ang mauuna na magsabi, iwan na ninyo ang employers ninyo,”
he said.
(We often say our
workers will not change jobs if there is no abuse, no non-payment of salaries…if
the working conditions are oppressive we will be the first to tell you to leave
your employers).
Sun’s response was an
assurance that there is no sweeping policy to reject all applications for a
change of employer by terminated workers, meaning they make a decision on a
case-to-case basis.
Thus, he said the
workers should learn how to justify their application for a change of employers
without having to leave Hong Kong. They could do this by documenting any case
of abuse or contract violation in a diary, or if the case is serious, to go to
the police.
The assistance to
nationals section of the Consulate or the Office of Migrant Workers could help
by helping them draft an affidavit that would explain why their contracts were
terminated, or why they decided to leave.
The proposed amendments
to the CoP, issued by the Labour Department to regulate employment agency
operations, can be found here: https://www.eaa.labour.gov.hk/en/copconsultation2023.html
The major proposals include, among others, requiring EAs to set
out in the service agreement the amount of fees charged for each category of
services to enhance transparency and protect consumers; explaining clearly to
foreign domestic helper (FDH) job seekers that under the prevailing policy, an
application for change of an employer in Hong Kong within the two-year contract
period will normally not be approved save for the exceptional circumstances,
such that FDHs would understand the consequence of 'job hopping'; and EAs
should not provide monetary incentives to FDHs in employment to induce the
latter to terminate their contracts prematurely.”
Another
proposal is to require EAs to divulge whether they have association with and
are sharing the same premises with any financial institutions, so as to prevent
EAs from colluding with financial institutions to arrange FDHs to take out
loans.
As
recommended by the Office of The Ombudsman, Labour also proposes to require EAs
to provide basic information on boarding facilities for their FDH job seekers.
The public consultation will last until May 15. Those who wish to send in their views and suggestions may send an email to to eaa-consultation@labour.gov.hk , by fax to 2115 3756 or by mail to: Employment Agencies Administration, Labour Department Unit 906, 9/F, One Mong Kok Road Commercial Centre, 1 Mong Kok Road, Kowloon.
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