Ensure maids get minimum wage
I see that Teresa Liu Tsui-Lan, vice-chairwoman of the General Chamber of Manpower Agencies, said that "abuses were rare" in the treatment of maids in Hong Kong ("Amnesty urges Jakarta, Beijing to sign maid pact", November 22).
This is in direct contrast to the findings by Amnesty International.
So who to believe? An internationally respected body which highlights abuse in countries around the world irrespective of their political system or a woman who is involved in an organisation that makes money out of maids?
Obviously, Ms Liu does not consider working 17-hour days with no days off, abuse. This is a common practice in Hong Kong, along with other abuses of the labour laws perpetrated by employers of maids. Maybe cases of abuse do not make it to court due to numerous factors such as fear of loss of job, physical abuse, and recrimination.
After the denial of permanent residency to maids, it is the government's responsibility to enact legislation compelling employers to pay the minimum wage plus limit the number of statutory working hours to a reasonable figure, such as 12 hours per day, and overtime pay.
No doubt there will be claims about how families will not be able to afford to pay, but that may benefit their children as the parents will have to accept the responsibility of raising their own children, not sub-contracting them to a foreigner. They might even consider putting family before money.