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| Another Filipina seen cleaning her employer's window.
By The SUN staff
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Hong Kong has agreed to work with Philippine officials in drafting a regulation by Nov. 14 that will exclude risky window cleaning from the tasks of domestic workers.
A statement released by the Philippine Consulate on Oct. 17 said the two sides had agreed to "revisit" the exclusion of window cleaning from domestic duties, in line with strict international standards.
The statement said that the crafting of such a safety provision must conform with international best practices, which provide that:
1) The worker must be supervised by the employer or an adult representative while cleaning windows; and
2) That window grilles have been installed and are locked throughout the cleaning process.
The statement further emphasized that the worker's safety is paramount, and “under no circumstances should the employer subject a domestic worker to unsafe working conditions and tasks”.
The move appears to signal an initial victory for Labor Attache Jalilo de la Torre, who unilaterally decided to include a clause in Filipino domestic helpers’ contracts excusing them from cleaning the outside parts of windows.
The exclusion, which was to take effect on Oct. 15, was met with widespread protests by employers’ representatives, and apprehension by employment agency owners.
Migrant workers’ representatives, on the other hand, applauded the move.
During a visit to Hong Kong in the last week of September, Philippine Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello failed to convince his Hong Kong counterpart, Matthew Cheung, to agree to the job exclusion.
Despite this, Labatt de la Torre went ahead with amending Filipino domestic workers’ contracts to include the ban.
However, its implementation was postponed at the last minute at the request of Hong Kong labour officials who wanted the two sides to agree on the terms of the exclusion.
Labatt de la Torre told The SUN that he had postponed the ban for 30 days to allow Hong Kong to come up with its own provision on window cleaning which would apply to all foreign domestic workers' contracts.
The Philippine government sought the exclusion in the wake of a rash of incidents involving Filipino ,maids who were killed after falling from height.
In the latest incident, 35-year-old Rinalyn Dulluog died after falling from a Lohas Park high rise on Aug. 9. Domestic workers led by the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body immediately backed the ban, but employers' groups were enraged.
An employers' support group subsequently wrote a letter to Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, asking him to intervene in what they said was an attempt to subvert Hong Kong's lawmaking functions.
At a press conference held during a community event that day, Cheung said that the Hong Kong government had asked for more time in order to listen to all parties concerned before coming up with a solution.
“First of all, we attach great importance to the safety of all worker including foreign domestic helpers. We’ve got a very large population of 375,000 and of course they play a very important role in Hong Kong,” Cheung said.
He said the helpers’ safety “is something we cannot compromise” but that “we have to strike a balance between the safety of the employee and the interest of the employer”.
Cheung said the ban is not applicable to all situations because there are houses that are on the ground floor, or those with safe corridors outside or fitted with iron grilles.
That’s why he said he had asked the Consulate to suspend the ban to give Hong Kong more time to study it and conduct dialogues and take into account the views of various stakeholders including employers, employers’ groups and employment agencies.
For her part, Consul General Bernardita Catalla urged the press not to issue any report until an official statement on the talks' outcome had been issued.
She also asked Filipinos not to criticize Labatt de la Torre for shelving the ban.
“Please don’t blame Labatt Dela Torre for that (postponement). I think that it’s only fair that important issues like this be discussed openly, concurrently with Hong Kong authorities, as well as the stakeholders,” Catalla said.
Shortly after her meeting with Hong Kong's labour officials yesterday, Congen Catalla left for Beijing to join the official delegation of President Rodrigo Duterte who was on a three-day visit for talks on bilateral issues.
