Domestic helpers may be worse off under minimum wage legislation
It is no surprise foreign domestic helpers excluded from the proposed minimum wage law have threatened legal action, claiming racial discrimination. But is there really a racial dimension or has the fundamental basis of overseas contract recruitment been forgotten?
Many Hong Kong citizens would like to work as domestic helpers, but cannot fulfil the live-in requirement as they live with their own families. This is where the overseas workers fit in. They do not have a Hong Kong family and can work flexible hours. In turn, they are compensated by getting free lodging, free meals and other extras. They work in the home so they have no transport costs. They enjoy fixed official holidays, one day off per week, on top of the two weeks' annual leave after working for two years and they get air fares.
A sensible domestic helper should be able to save up to HK$3,000 a month. No local blue collar could save that much even though they earn more. To include overseas domestic helpers in minimum wage legislation would automatically mean the elimination of all the advantages they have over local workers. This is killing the goose that lays the golden egg.
Because they can work flexible hours, overseas domestic helpers have proved indispensable. However, one must not ignore the fact that the Hong Kong employment market has helped relieve high unemployment in the countries that export domestic helpers. This is not a racial issue, it is a fair trade. Overseas domestic helpers are to be reminded that Hong Kong employers also have to tolerate and put up with the language, cultural and, to lesser extent, regional differences of their overseas employees. Where would one find an overseas recruitment that does not demand applicants to be able to understand and speak the local language?
It is true, there are some bad employers but there are many good and caring ones too. Yet many overseas domestic helpers have the mindset that they are doing a favour for their employers. When they are not happy, all they need to do is to make up excuses to complain. They always get people's ear because they are perceived as the weaker link.
Charmaine Chan, Tai Hang