Local labour unions are hopeful that Beijing will support the setting up of an international labour convention for domestic workers as it recently rejected India's proposal to reduce the convention into a form of harmless recommendation.
The convention - which details of its contents have yet to be set out - seeks to guarantee full-time and part-time domestic workers basic labour rights such as sick leave, pensions and medical insurance. If China becomes a signatory of the convention, the Hong Kong government is supposed to take it as a reference when devising local labour policies.
Full-time domestic workers in the city are now protected by the Employment Ordinance, but part-time helpers are excluded from the benefits.
'Employment and social protection to domestic helpers, regardless of whether they are full-time or part-time, are always limited around the world,' Fung Ka-yan, chairman of the Hong Kong Domestic Workers General Union, said.
'Although it may be a bit better in Hong Kong, our full-time domestic helpers still do not enjoy all labour rights - like a minimum wage and maximum work hours, and the situation for part-time helpers is even worse. They have no benefits.'
Representatives of the union are attending a meeting of the International Labour Organisation in Geneva on the issue. A majority of the participating countries, including China, recently rejected a proposal from India to make the convention no more than a mere recommendation. Some employer representatives also demanded the convention cover only full-time domestic workers.