No more window cleaning: domestic workers to march in Hong Kong after helpers die in falls from high-rises
Migrant body will also call for higher wages, limit on working hours and better accommodation
Domestic workers in Hong Kong will take to the streets on Sunday to call for a ban on cleaning windows, following several deaths of helpers who fell from high-rise buildings. They are also demanding a pay rise, a limit on their working hours and a clear definition of “suitable accommodation”.
Some 400 to 500 people were expected to join the protest, which will start on Chater Road in Central at 3pm, organisers said. Demonstrators will then march to the Labour Department in Wan Chai.
“In recent months we have seen several deaths of domestic workers who were cleaning windows in high-rises. We want the Labour Department to come up with a regulation to forbid this,” said Eman Villanueva, spokesman for the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body, an organisation that fights for the rights of migrant workers.
“Cleaning windows from the outside is not a domestic workers’ duty. It’s a responsibility of the building management ... It’s necessary to have proper training and safety equipment to do that sort of job,” Villanueva, who is a domestic helper from the Philippines, noted.
In the protest, domestic workers will also be calling for a wage increase of HK$790. “We will reiterate our demands for a wage increase to HK$5,000 and the food allowance to HK$1,600,” Villanueva said.