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| Two Pinays pictured while cleaning windows |
Migrant workers are planning a big rally next month to push
their demand for a $5,000 monthly pay. They also want their food allowance
raised to $1,600 and to have the same number of working hours as other Hong Kong employees.
In addition, they are urging the Hong
Kong government to stop employers from ordering their helpers
to clean windows from the outside.
The new call follows last week’s fatal fall of a Filipino helper in Tseung Kwan O while reportedly cleaning windows.
The new call follows last week’s fatal fall of a Filipino helper in Tseung Kwan O while reportedly cleaning windows.
The demands were among those submitted by migrant support
organizations to Labour and Welfare Secretary Matthew Cheung when he conferred
with them in his Sheung Wan office in the run-up to the government’s annual
wage review,
“We presented our
$5,000 proposal and also discussed the safety of workers because of the
succession of work-related deaths of domestic helpers,” Dolores Balladares, Unifil-Migrante
Hong Kong chairwoman, said in an interview with The SUN on Aug 17.
But she said Labour officials who invited workers’
representatives to the meeting hinted they shouldn’t expect much because of
uncertainties in the local economy.
“We are planning to stage a big rally around the second week
of September to press the government on our wage petition, but we will hold
daily pickets at the Labour Department to step up the pressure before the big
one,” Balladares said.
On the window cleaning ban, Balladares cited the risks faced
by helpers forced to do such a task. This was graphically shown when 35-year-old Rinalyn
Dulluog fell to her death on Aug 9 reportedly while cleaning the exterior of
the window of her employers’ flat in Lohas Park, Tseung Kwan O.
Another incident was the one reported by The SUN in which two
Filipinas in Taiwai were ordered by their boss to climb out and wipe the
exterior of a window. Luckily, they were rescued by Consulate officials before
they could get hurt.
“Cleaning window exteriors is a task that should not be assigned
to domestic workers, because that work should be the responsibility of building
management,” said Balladares.
Joining her at the meeting with Cheung were Unifil secretary-general Eman Villanueva and Mission
for Migrant Workers general manager Cynthia Tellez.
The three also prodded Cheung on the inclusion of domestic
workers in the legislation on the maximum working hours.
“We discussed with him the need for domestic workers to have
at least 11 hours of rest, including their meal time and sleep, so that they
can do their work better. For how can they perform well if, having little food,
they also get very little rest?” Balladares said. – Vir B. Lumicao
