Foreign domestic workers appeal exclusion

Members of the Hong Kong Federation of Asian Domestic Workers Unions march in Wan Chai for an eight-hour work day for FDHs

A migrant leader has appealed the exclusion of foreign domestic workers from any proposed regulation of standard working hours in Hong Kong.

Shiella Grace Estrada, chair of the Progressive Labor Union of Domestic Workers in Hong Kong (PLUDW-HK), said Standard Working Hours Committee (SWHC) working documents showed that “live-in domestic workers” would not be covered by any proposed regulation.

The documents’ definition of “live-in domestic workers” included domestic helpers, carers, chauffers, gardeners, boat-boys or other personal helpers who live free of charge with their employers, “irrespective of their sex, race, or nationality,” Estrada said in an interview.

“So, nakalagay na yung domestic helpers excluded na talaga. Yun yung nakalagay sa draft. Pinapakita lang na hindi talaga pinakamagandang puntahan ang Hong Kong, especially for foreign domestic helpers kasi walang equality,” she said.

“Hindi nila nirerecognize as workers yung FDHs although malaki ang ating contribution sa kanila,” she added.

Estrada said she and her group attended the consultation conducted by the SWHC in Yau Ma Tei on July 16 and appealed for an eight-hour work day for FDHs in Hong Kong.

“Nagsalita ako at yung ibang members namin at, sabi nila, they will look into it,” Estrada said.

The SWHC held consultations as part of its efforts to promote public understanding and in-depth discussion of the “complex subject” of having standard working hours in Hong Kong.

It will also advise the government on the working hours situation in the territory, including whether a statutory SWH regime or any other alternatives should be considered. The committee had finished its second-stage consultation.