MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 14, 2014) – The Asian Migrants’ Coordinating Body-International Migrants Alliance in Hong Kong is lobbying for a HK$4500 minimum allowable wage for foreign domestic workers (FDWs) and HK$1600 monthly food allowance.
The group trooped in front of the Labor Department to express their sentiments. “Our burdens are too much, and our wage is too low. It is high time for the Hong Kong government to rectify its ill-treatment of foreign domestic workers and give us a significant wage hike this year,” the group’s spokesperson Eni Lestari said.
The action was done just before the consultation called by the Labor Department to solicit views for the review of the minimum allowable wage (MAW) this year.
“In 1998, the MAW for FDWs was HK$3860 and was drastically cut in 1999 and again in 2003. Since that 1998 level, the MAW was only increased to HK$4010 or by 3.8% or by HK$10 per year. This is a travesty of labour rights, this is modern-day slavery,” Lestari said.
According to the group, FDWs are finding it almost impossible to make ends meet as the cost of even the most basic of commodities increased almost every year since 1998. Government data itself has shown that inflation from then up to the current year has reached more than 11.7%.
“Even a casual observer can see that prices of food and cost of transportation, and even the products needed by FDWs for personal hygiene and care, have been steadily rising and no way can the cumulative HK$150 increase for the past 15 years catch up to such increases,” Lestari said.
Meanwhile, the demand for an increase in food allowance was based on a study by Oxfam on the minimum food expenditure that an individual needs in Hong Kong.
Protesters said that FDWs deserve a significant wage hike and increase in food allowance also because it is a recognition of the contributions of FDWs to the Hong Kong’s economic and social condition. With more than 300,000 FDWs in the city, FDWs comprise a significant sector of consumers of various industries and services such as food, retail, transportation and communication.
“We take care of Hong Kong’s household especially the children and the elderly and thus, are indispensible members of the Hong Kong’s workforce. We were already excluded in the statutory minimum wage, and we will not let the HK government to again give us a pittance for this year’s MAW decision,” Lestari said.
She said their group and other FDW organizations will continue to increase pressure for their demands. “We suffer from social exclusion and are forcibly maintained by HK policies as slaves. This must end,” she said.
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