The SUN HK : CG says Consulate has aired concerns about alleged job hopping to HK govt

By Daisy CL Mandap

Migrants oppose legislating so-called 'job-hopping' by FDWs

Consul General Raly Tejada says the Consulate has relayed to the Hong Kong government its “deep concern” about allegations of job hopping among foreign domestic workers.

“Please note that the Consulate General has made strong representations with the Hong Kong government on the matter and will continue to do so through official channels,” said ConGen Tejada in an email to The SUN.

Most recently, he said the issue was brought up by his team during their regular Technical Working Group dialogue with officials from the Hong Kong Labour Department and the Department of Immigration.

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“I have also expressed my deep concern over the policy’s negative impact on Filipino domestic workers with no less than Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun,” ConGen added.

“He (Sun) replied that Hong Kong will always respect the rights of our workers and that he will make sure that they remain protected. He added that Hong Kong does not take the issue lightly with every case treated individually and decided based on relevant and applicable law.”

CG Tejada (left) says he has raised the issue with Labour Secretary Chris Sun (PCG File Photo)

The country’s top diplomat said he wished to assure the Filipino community in Hong Kong of the Consulate’s “unwavering support and assistance” with regard to the job-hopping allegation, and called on everyone to continue working together to resist any move that would adversely affect them.

He made his remarks after the United Filipinos in Hong Kong issued a statement on Wednesday, questioning the Consulate’s “silence” on the issue.

Unifil said that as representative of the Filipino people in Hong Kong the Consulate should be the first to speak up and uphold the rights of Filipino migrant workers.

At the very least, said the group, ConGen Tejada should take the lead in explaining the issue to the community and then take up the cudgels for the Filipino workers whose rights are under attack.

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Unifil and other migrant organizations aligned with the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body staged a protest outside the Labour Department office in Sheung Wan on Monday, ahead of the tabling before the Legislative Council of a proposal to include “job hopping” in the list of prohibited acts of FDWs in the Code of Practice for Employment Agencies.

Unifil slammed Labour’s proposal as malicious and racist, as it targets only migrant domestic workers and not employers.

The group said the public consultation is being held on the wrong presumption that FDWs often are the ones who initiate the early termination of contracts, when in fact, employers are the ones more likely to do this.

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The employers’ “whim and capricious” termination of contracts leave the newly arrived workers jobless and indebted, said the group.

What the government, particularly the Immigration Department, should do is to apply the law fairly by requiring employers to cite the reason for termination, and also count the number of times they have terminated their domestic helpers, added Unifil.

Unifil’s chair, Dolores Balladares, said: “We want to tell the HK Department of Labour and the Immigration Department that if we are treated justly and humanely, our working conditions is good and our rights as migrant workers inside our employer’s household is uphold and protected…no migrant domestic workers will be forced to terminate a contract...”

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Employment agencies have also criticized the proposal, saying it violates the FDWs’ right to choose who to work for, as provided for in the Basic Law.

But employers who have been pushing Immigration to continue cracking the whip on FDWs who do not finish their two-year contracts say the proposal is fair as it prevents helpers from switching employers, and causing huge financial losses to the one who paid for them to come here.