HONG KONG (AsiaNews/SE): As Hong Kong authorities planned to introduce more stringent labour laws to stop “job hopping” among foreign domestic workers, the Asian Migrants’ Coordinating Body (AMCB) held a rally on March 20 outside the Labour Department affirming that changing jobs is a “human right”.
The group’s spokesperson, Dolores Balladares, said that changing employers was the last thing a domestic worker would do because they have to pay “a big price” if they end their contracts early, including paying a large sum to employment agencies as well as waiting for a new work visa.
“But if we are not feeling good, or if we don’t receive any good treatment from our employer, it’s the right of an individual to look for a better one,” Balladares stressed.
Under the Labour Depart-ment’s proposal, employment agencies are required to explain to domestic workers that applications to change employer before the completion of the standard two-year contract will normally not be approved, apart from exceptional circumstances.
Such circumstances include the transfer, migration, death of the original employer, financial reasons, or in case there is evidence that the [foreign domestic worker] has been abused or exploited.
Sringatin, the chairperson of the Indonesian Migrant Workers’ Union, said she hoped the government would meet with domestic workers.
A letter submitted to the secretary for Labour and Welfare, the AMCB pointed out that the allegation against job-hopping is discriminatory. “Domestic workers should have the same treatment as other workers in Hong Kong. Other workers are not penalised when they look for better pay and better working conditions elsewhere; why should domestic workers be treated differently?
It says workers have the right to change jobs if they are badly treated. “Why blame us for how badly our employers treat us? Why does the Labour Department not defend us?”
The group believes the government proposal is only meant to protect employers. “the Labour Department’s request for employment agencies to prevent domestic workers from ‘job-hopping’ does not delve deeper into our issues as second-class residents in Asia’s World City.”
A 2021 survey found that cases of sexual abuse and harassment suffered by foreign domestic workers in the workplace tripled in 2020.
They added that in many cases in which a worker was accused of job-hopping, it was the employer who terminated the contract, but not the workers themselves.
