Feburary, 2003

You Shall Not Oppress a Stranger - Say No to the Proposed Wage Cut on Foreign Domestic Workers

Rose Wu

As Christians, we should remember by heart that the most important foundation for the laws of the Torah is to put aliens under the absolute protection of God: "You shall not oppress a stranger: you know the heart of a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt." The Old Testament contains the model of such an ethic. This is especially true of the love of the stranger in Lev. 19:33f.: "[W]hen a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him/her wrong. The stranger who sojourns with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him/her as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God."

Indeed, from Abraham's departure to the child in the manger, in its main themes, the Bible is a story of people who depart, set out in search of bread, land and protection, wander about and return.

What would this ethic look like to the people of Hong Kong?

First of all, many Hong Kong people or their parents and grandparents were once either refugees or new immigrants moving from mainland China to Hong Kong to escape political unrest or to seek economic survival. We share the same stories as the Israelites, for we were once strangers in a foreign land. Thus, we should know the heart of a stranger.

Secondly, migration is central to the history of Hong Kong. Hong Kong's major source of labour has been from the constant influx of mainland Chinese. Instead of looking at them as a social burden of the community, they were in fact, the major contributors to Hong Kong's economic development. The miracle to turn Hong Kong from a small fishing village to an international cosmopolitan city.

Who are our "strangers" in today's Hong Kong?

According to scholarly consensus, the Hebrew word grm used here denotes people who have neither family nor land where they are living and who live as those seeking protection in a foreign country. They can be people of a foreign land; but even within the territory on which one's own people are settled, one is a stranger where one is not at home and has no social roots.

In Hong Kong since the 1970s, the population of non-Chinese migrant workers has steadily grown. The reasons for this phenomenon are the territory's rapid economic growth since the mid-1970s that created an excess demand for labour, resulting in employment for even more senior workers and women. By the late-1980s, the labour cost in the manufacturing and service sectors escalated. Hong Kong achieved near full employment that was described by the business sector as a "serious labour shortage." In response, the government exerted efforts to fully mobilise the local female labour force. Because of inflation and the high cost of living, local women entered the labour market to increase the family's household income.

The government liberalised the importation of foreign domestic helpers (FDHs) in the early 1980s. Consequently, the hiring of FDHs became popular, and the population of FDHs steadily increased each year. By 1990, there were 70,335 FDHs with 90 percent of these workers from the Philippines, 6 percent from Thailand and 4 percent accounting for all others. As of May 2000, the population of FDHs in Hong Kong reached 202,900 (73 percent were Filipinos; 23 percent were Indonesians; 3 percent were Thais; and 1 percent were all others).

How do we treat our "strangers" in Hong Kong?

The standard employment contract for FDHs spells out employers' responsibilities, the minimum wage and working conditions for FDHs as set by the government, which is unique in Hong Kong. Women employed as FDHs though periodically experience contract violations and abuses as reported by migrants, their advocates and the media.

According to the Asian Migrant Centre (AMC) and the Coalition of Migrant Rights' (CMR) Baseline Research on Racial and Gender Discrimination towards Filipino, Indonesian and Thai Domestic Helpers in Hong Kong, 15 percent of Indonesian, Thai and Filipino FDHs are paid under the official minimum wage for FDHs, and more than a quarter of FDHs interviewed suffered verbal and/or physical abuse from all sections of Hong Kong society. Moreover, 4.5 percent, or 9,000 FDHs, have been raped or subjected to sexual abuse; 15 percent, or 30,000 FDHs, have been cheated out of their legal minimum wage; and at least 22 percent are not given the mandated one rest day off. Almost all FDHs felt that they were discriminated against and unfairly treated because they are domestic workers with 22 percent ascribing the reason to their foreign status. The abuses are even more rampant among Indian, Sri Lankan and Nepalese FDHs.

Migrant workers also must face discriminatory attitudes and stereotypes associated with the fact that they come from developing countries, which are often wracked with communal violence, religious extremism and instability. Especially in the aftermath of Sept. 11, many FDHs must endure racial slurs (with Indonesians being most affected) that often blame migrants and their home countries for the cause of global instability. Muslim FDHs especially endure this abuse on top of limitations imposed by some employers on practicing their faith, e.g., not allowing them to pray, wear "Muslim cloths" or follow special diets.

Another longstanding criticism by FDH advocates of unfair discriminatory treatment towards FDHs is the new conditions of stay (NCS) policy adopted by the government in 1987. The policy imposes particular restrictions on "the conditions of stay" of FDHs in Hong Kong, including restrictions on FDHs shifting to another employer without approval of the Immigration Dept. and an outright prohibition for FDHs to shift to other non-FDH job categories. It also disqualifies FDHs from gaining right of residency even if they have continuously worked in Hong Kong for more than seven years. Another aspect of the NCS policy is the " two-week rule," which stipulates that an FDH who is terminated has only two weeks, or until the expiration of her visa, to legally stay in Hong Kong.

Migrant groups have criticised this policy because it discriminates against FDHs since similar restrictions are not imposed on expatriate professionals. For years, migrants and advocates have campaigned and lobbied for the scrapping of the NCS policy.

Instead of listening to migrant groups' advice, the Hong Kong government has repeatedly launched attempts to reduce FDHs' benefits during economic slumps, including a wage reduction in 1999 and a continuing wage freezes since then as well as the proposal in 2000 to "relax" maternity protection for domestic helpers.

Last December the chairman of the Liberal Party, James Tien Pei-chun, recommended to Hong Kong's financial secretary that FDHs should be taxed HK$500 (US$64) a month, arguing that it could raise HK$1.4 billion (US$179.49 million) annually to help balance the government's budget deficit. Filipino helper Nellie Panganiban, who has worked in Hong Kong for nine years, said every time there is an economic problem they blame it on the lesser people.

In late December last year, the Hong Kong office of Amnesty International (AI) wrote to the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) to inquire about the "discriminatory" nature of the levy. In response to the inquiry, the EOC warned the government that the Sex Discrimination Ordinance may be breached if FDHs, who are overwhelmingly female, have to pay the HK$500 monthly tax while other foreign workers are excluded.

Connie Bragas-Regalado, chairwoman of the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body (AMCB), said she will raise the issue at the U.N. Human Rights Committee meeting in March. Since the proposal, thousands of foreign domestic workers have staged a series of rallies to protest against the proposed plan.

In order to avoid this legal problem, the government announced that a new proposal may be to cut the wage of FDHs by 5% rather than levy HK$500 tax on January 28. One rationale that has been offered is that this reduction of maids' wages will help offset a possible tax increase this year for Hong Kong's people.

"You shall not oppress a stranger: you know the heart of a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt."

This model of ethics confronts us today, especially the Christians of Hong Kong who are mostly middle-class and are employers of FDHs, for we have an obligation to support and advocate the rights of FDHs by saying No to the proposed wage cut and putting pressure on the Hong Kong government to change all discriminatory policies, laws and practices towards FDHs. We should do this, not only because we should not oppress a stranger but, more importantly, because we were once strangers in this land and we should not forget how the heart of a stranger feels and needs the support of others.