Disabled Hong Kong workers hit back against ‘bullying’, marginalisation and ‘unfair’ retirement age
- Workers at the Factory for the Blind in To Kwa Wan say they are treated as ‘cheap labour’ and are unhappy with the factory’s planned relocation
- Disabled workers are forced to retire at 55, which they say leaves them vulnerable to isolation
At a three-storey factory tucked away among the quiet streets of To Kwa Wan in Kowloon on April 17, about 80 visually and mentally impaired people and their relatives faced off against the authorities.
The closed-door meeting with the factory’s management and social welfare officials became an emotionally charged affair as workers listed their woes and made allegations of mistreatment.
Among other things, they accused instructors of bullying mentally disabled apprentices, complained about the lack of job prospects for disabled workers and their unfair retirement age of 55.
For most, it was the first time they had vented their frustration about the neglect and humiliation they experience as socially marginalised individuals in Hong Kong.
The meeting had initially been called to discuss the workers’ most pressing worries about their workplace. The Factory for the Blind is the only one of its kind in the city, providing jobs for about 200 disabled people. One group of 55 produce filing tags and boxes, among other things, and sew clothes, and they are paid the statutory minimum wage of HK$6,000 (US$765) or more a month.
Another 150 disabled people work as apprentices in a sheltered workshop, receiving government subsidies of more than HK$1,000 a month for low-skilled work such as packaging or cleaning.