Call for a decent wage for Migrant Domestic Workers, group asks for HK$6,100

Meeting of different migrant workers groups at the Labor Depatment, July 21 (photo courtesy of FADWU).

A Decent Wage for Migrant Domestic Workers! $6,100 Now!

This is the call of the Hong Kong Federation of Asian Domestic Workers Unions (FADWU) submitted to the Labor Department at the meeting yesterday, 21 July.

The Hong Kong Federation of Asian Domestic Workers Unions (FADWU) demands the HK government to stop this deprivation immediately and raise the MAW to a reasonable $6,100, based on Oxfam HK’s 2018 living wage report, after deducting the cost of rent and food covered by employers, plus the Consumer Price Index (A) for the past three years. While the group asked for a minimum food allowance should be $2,500, based on the cost-of-living database Numbeo.

In the statement received from the group, it said that Migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong, despite being paid extremely low ($11/hour, 16 hours/day) compared to the statutory minimum wage ($37.5/hour), have their minimum allowable wage (MAW) frozen at $4,630 by the Hong Kong government for consecutive 3 years. It is equivalent to a wage deduction for 3 years due to the inflation rate. This kind of deprivation is unacceptable for migrant domestic workers who sacrifice their youth and health for the prosperity of Hong Kong.

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The median monthly household income in Hong Kong has grown by 35%, while the consumer price index (A) has grown by 29%. for the past 10 years, the statement explained, yet the minimum allowable wage for migrant domestic workers has only raised 18% which means for the at least past 10 years, migrant workers have been suffering from a real wage loss, depriving them of the real value of their work, mentioned in the statement of FADWU.

Other than the increase in the MAW to $6,100 and the food allowance to $2,500 FADWU also asked the Hong Kong Government to disclose the method of calculating the MAW, to include the migrant domestic workers under the Minimum Wages Ordinance and to review the CoP and seek legislative measures.

A Decent Wage for Migrant Dome