Mainlanders are routinely subjected to slurs and treated like 'unsophisticated country bumpkins' by local work colleagues, but are powerless to fight back, pressure groups demanding new laws said yesterday.
The activists said mainland workers were often underpaid, teased and accused of 'stealing' locals' jobs. But they had no legal right to complain because Hong Kong does not ban such discrimination.
Their comments came after the Post reported the case of a mainland woman who successfully sued her Hong Kong-based employer in London over slurs inflicted by her Cantonese-speaking colleagues. The woman, who was unfairly sacked from the British arm of the Phoenix Chinese TV company, was able to act because British law forbids racial discrimination. But, had she been in the same situation here, she would have been helpless.
Ravi Gidumal, director of the Indian Resources Group and a member of anti-racism alliance HARD, said many mainlanders in Hong Kong faced similar problems and needed legal protection.
'Certainly, this is not inconsistent with what we're seeing here. There's definitely a perception that these are unsophisticated country bumpkins from across the border,' he said. 'How do you address the problem? First and foremost you make it illegal. It doesn't stop there, you then need to educate, but you need to show people that it's wrong.'
Human Rights Monitor spokesman Ho Hei-wah said the situation was 'very, very bad' for mainlanders in Hong Kong because so many locals had the mistaken impression of new arrivals as being threats to their livelihood.