Pinoy culture seminars for HK employers eyed

A GROUP of Hong Kong employment agencies vowed to initiate more programs to educate employers in the city about the culture of foreign domestic helpers in a bid to promote better understanding between them.

The Association of Hong Kong Manpower Agencies Ltd. (AHKMA) and the Society of Hong Kong Accredited Recruiters of the Philippines Inc. (SHARP) signed a memorandum of understanding on May 26 for the “Harmonious Home” campaign that seeks to prevent disputes between employers and foreign domestic workers in the territory.

The group, however, could not say when these programs would be implemented.

“We will have seminars. Also, we have to give a briefing to the employers before they employ their maid, before they sign the contract. We will inform them what the cultures of Filipinos and Indonesians are,” Teresa Liu, chairperson of AHKMA, told Hong Kong News after the signing ceremony at the Regal Hong Kong Hotel in Causeway Bay.

Labor Attache Jalilo dela Torre witnessed the signing ceremony. HKMA has some 40 employment agency-members.

Liu said these briefings seek to emphasize the nuances of Filipino and Indonesian cultures, noting that Indonesians should not be forced to eat pork.

She added that both Filipinos and Indonesians should also be provided with rice for lunch and dinner, instead of making them eat bread or noodles.

Those taking care of babies at night, she added, should be given ample time to rest at daytime.

“Later on, we will have the seminar. All of us will have a briefing to the employers about communicating with their maids, and how to be a good employer. You have to treat them as a human being,” Liu said.

Pressed to say when these seminars would be held, she said that they have yet to determine their schedule as they have “just launched” the campaign.

“We will have different teams, some teams will prepare (these) seminars,” she said.

Sought by Hong Kong News for comment, Betty Yung, chairperson of Hong Kong Employers of Domestic Helpers Association, said she could not say if employers would be able to attend these seminars.

“The problem of employers in Hong Kong is that they’re very busy. If they are not busy, they would not be employing domestic workers,” she said after the signing ceremony.

Yung added that even without these seminars, the Labour Department “has done a lot for employers to [educate them about] the labor laws of Hong Kong.”

Filipino recruitment agencies, meanwhile, will require families of those seeking to work in Hong Kong as domestic helpers to be present during the application process.

“There are problems here brought about by extreme pressure from the families in the Philippines asking for more money, resulting in borrowing from different financing companies,” said Alfredo Palmiery, SHARP president.

“Later on, this poor girl cannot pay, the financing companies call the telephone of the employer, which eventually results in termination of the girl,” he added.
SHARP has 38 employment agency members.

Training for Hong Kong-bound domestic workers will include learning how to cook Cantonese cuisine, and learning how to operate actual appliances typically found in a Hong Kong home.

Palmiery said they will also be distributing handbooks for both domestic workers and employers.

“The handbook about the Hong Kong employers will tell the workers about the characteristics of Hong Kong employers. Also, on the other side, we have to tell about the characteristics of a Filipino maid,” Palmiery said.

“A Filipino maid always likes to eat with rice, and always likes to take a bath,” said Palmiery during the press conference, eliciting laughter from the audience, made up mostly of Hong Kong employers and employment agency officials.

AHKMA and SHARP are also planning to put up a 24/7 assistance center for distressed domestic workers.

Palmiery said the center is not designed to become a transient house owing to the “tremendous cost” it will entail for employment agencies, but will be a place where domestic workers could go to should their employment agencies fail to assist them.

“This is a set up whereby workers will have an immediate refuge where to address their problems. The idea is an action center whenever and wherever there are workers not attended to by the deployment agency,” Palmiery said.

Dela Torre commended the campaign, particularly the workers’ assistance center.

“This effect complements our own efforts in addressing the many problems that our domestic workers are facing in Hong Kong because it’s just a matter of providing correct information for them so that the relationship between the employer and a domestic helper is a smooth and effective one,” dela Torre said.