Exclusion to wage legislation and long working hours: double violation of rights of foreign maids
Group slams labour board’s decision to keep foreign domestics out of minimum wage law

“This is double violation of rights of foreign domestic workers.”

“When the Labour Advisory Board excluded FDWs in the statutory minimum wage because we are working 16 hours a day, what they are really saying is that it is acceptable to pay a measly amount to workers labouring under long working hours. They are saying that this type of modern-day slavery is right."

This was the reaction of Eni Lestari, spokesperson of the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body (AMCB) – the biggest alliance of Asian migrant workers, mostly domestic helpers, in Hong Kong – on the reported decision of the Labour Advisory Board to exclude foreign domestic workers from the proposal for a legislated minimum wage for Hong Kong workers.

According to the board, their decision was hinged on their computation that if foreign maids are included in the proposed statutory minimum wage, they shall be receiving HK$12,480 a month.

“What is wrong with receiving such an amount if you labor for 16 hours in a day? If a worker works overtime – as what is obviously the practice with domestic workers – she has the right to be compensated accordingly. Don’t we deserve to get paid HK$30 per hour because we are foreign workers?” she remarked.

Lestari said if the LAB is so worried about the amount, then what it should look into is the long working hours of FDWs. She said that this exploitative situation was what the LAB members refused to recognize.

Additionally, Lestari said that they do consider the expenses that employers incur with a live-in maid and believed that this could be resolved by instituting a standard on how much in the average are the food and accommodation expenses. However, this, she relayed “does not affect the justness of the inclusion of FDWs to the minimum wage legislation.”

The group also hit the argument that it will be better to exclude FDWs ‘to avoid confusion’ and declared that “rightful wage for FDWs that is key to our livelihood and the survival of our families should not be sacrificed in exchange for convenience.”

“Besides, how can they say it is difficult to calculate the wage if they have already agreed for a HK$30 per hour one? What the LAB is doing by highlighting the monthly wage for domestics on a hourly basis is to fan unfounded fears among workers and employers,” she remarked.

Lestari also questioned the sincerity of the Labour Department who has been holding consultations with different groups including FDWs to solicit views on the minimum wage legislation. In the latest meeting with the key officials of the department on March 20, Lestari reported that they have been urged to submit proposals for the legislation and were informed that they had until June this year to do so.

“If the LAB decision pushes through, it is tantamount to betrayal. The Labour Department should not take up this recommendation for it will not live up to its name of Labour if it fails to protect the wage of one of the most poorly-paid of workers in Hong Kong,” she declared.

“Are we being duped and the meetings were done in bad faith? Were the consultations just for show? Such a complete turnaround reflects how badly this government treats one of the major sections of the HK work force, the foreign domestic workers,” she added.

Lestari said that they have consistently called for wage increase and against any wage reduction for FDWs especially in this period of financial crisis.

“The Labour Department knows that the legislated minimum wage is one of the most concrete forms of protection to our wage that we can have and gives us the possibility of a wage increase to help us cope with the current crisis. To maintain the current setup that makes our wage vulnerable to extreme cuts as we have experienced in the past,” she lamented.

The group challenged the board to come out in the open with their reasons for excluding FDWs in the proposed wage legislation and “expose to the public and to the international community how race and class discrimination is deeply-embedded in Hong Kong.”

Lestari also called on to local trade unions in Hong Kong to speak out against this decision.

“An attack to a sector of the workers is an attack to the whole. We have marched with our fellow workers among the local trade unions for this fight and we believe that they’ll back our position against this injustice the HK government has again committed against migrants,” she remarked.

Finally, Lestari said that they will conduct meetings with their members, allies and supporters to further discuss plans in confronting the recent development.

“This outrageous recommendation shall meet our outrage. We vow to push on with our just agenda for genuine protection to the wage and job security of foreign workers that are our rights,” she concluded.#

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Asian Migrants Coordinating Body (AMCB)
Members:
Association of Sri Lankans in Hong Kong (ASL-HK)
Asosiasi Tenaga Kerja Indonesia - Hong Kong (ATKI-HK)
(Association of Indonesian Migrant Workers)
Far-East Overseas Nepalese Association - Hong Kong (FEONA-HK)
Filipino Migrant Workers' Union (FMWU)
Friends of Thai - Hong Kong (FOT-HK)
Thai Regional Alliance (TRA-HK)
United Filipinos in Hong Kong (UNIFIL-HK)

c/o APMM, No. 2 Jordan Road,
Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR

Tel no(s): (852) 3156-2447, 2314-7316
Fax no(s): 2735-4559
E-mail: amcb.hk@gmail.com
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