[asia-apec 1247] Solidarity Message for AMCB campaign

[Migrante International]

<center><bold><color><param>ffff,0000,0000</param><bigger>STATEMENT OF
SUPPORT TO AMCB AND THE ADVOCATES' GROUPS' DEMAND FOR THE 

WITHDRAWAL OF THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO ABOLISH THE PROVISION ON
MATERNITY PROTECTION FOR 

FOREIGN DOMESTIC HELPERS UNDER THE EMPLOYMENT ORDINANCE

</bigger></color><bigger><bigger><bigger>MIGRANTE-INTERNATIONAL

</bigger></bigger></bigger><italic>14 August 1999

</italic></bold></center><bold>


</bold>Migrante International, the global alliance of migrant Filipinos,
sends our most militant greetings of solidarity to the Asian Migrant
Coordinating Body (AMCB), the Advocates' Group and all supporters to the
cause of migrant workers, in your struggle against the latest onslaught
of the Hongkong government on migrant's rights. We salute your continued
vigilance against the successive attacks of the Hongkong government on
the rights and welfare of migrant workers.


The proposed amendment on the Employment Ordinance which will deny
maternity protection for Foreign Domestic Helpers (FDH) is a treacherous
and oppressive act of curtailing the legitimate rights of the majority of
FDH in Hongkong  the women migrant workers. It is a tyrannical move to
negate the hard-won legal rights  and benefits of migrant workers and an
insidious attempt to even lower the slave-wages for women workers in
general and women migrants in particular. Such an anti-woman,
discriminatory and racist policy shall further expose FDH to greater
exploitation and make them an easy prey to unjust actions by abusive
employers.


The Hongkong government has given a death blow to foreign domestic
helpers when they implemented a wage cut on the already frozen minimum
wage of FDHs. With the proposed removal of maternity protection, they are
now trying to drive down the first nail, of what now appears to be a
boxful of anti-migrant policies, on the coffin which is meant to bury the
historical victories of the workers and migrant worker's struggle.


We fully support the demands of migrant organizations, institutions and
advocates in Hongkong for the withdrawal of the proposed amendment to the
Employment Ordinance that the Employment Ordinance be entirely applied to
FDHs; that attacks on rights and benefits of FDHs be stopped immediately;
and that measures be taken to further ensure the protection of the rights
and welfare of FDHs and the local workers.


We pledge to rally with you until these legitimate and immediate demands
are met. We vow to carry on the migrant worker's struggle against the
increasing attacks on migrants rights and welfare.


<bold>Reject the proposed amendment to abolish the provision on maternity
protection under the Employment Ordinance!

No to attacks on migrants' rights and welfare!

Carry on the struggle to promote and protect the rights and welfare of
Foreign Domestic Helpers (FDH) in Hongkong!



<center><color><param>ffff,0000,0000</param><bigger><bigger>****************************************************************

</bigger></bigger></color></center>

<center>Asian Migrant Coordinating Body (AMCB), Other Migrant
Organizations  and

Advocates$B(B Group


JOINT STATEMENT ON PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE PROVISION OF MATERNITY
PROTECTION FOR FOREIGN

DOMESTIC HELPERS UNDER THE EMPLOYMENT ORDINANCE

</center></bold>

 


We are organizations, groups and concerned individuals united together to
campaign against, and reaffirm our strong opposition to, the proposed
amendment to the Employment Ordinance that seeks to deny foreign domestic
helpers$B(B(FDHs) the right to maternity protection currently offered under
the Employment Ordinance. We are the Asian Migrant Coordinating Body
(AMCB), a coalition of organizations of migrant workers and foreign
domestic helpers (FDHs) of the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Sri
Lanka and Nepal;  and the Advocates$B(BGroup consisting of organizations and
individuals supporting the AMCB$B(Bs campaign for the protection of rights
of FDHs and migrant workers.


A few months ago, capitulating to pressure groups calling for a reduction
of the monthly minimum wages of FDHs, the Hong Kong Government imposed a
wage-cut on them ostensibly to ease the burden of economic crisis on the
employers. Following on the heels of the baseless and callous decision to
reduce the already meager minimum wages of FDHs, the Hong Kong Government
is drawing up plans to launch another attack on the FDHs. This time, it
is proposing to take away the FDHs$B(B right to maternity protection under
the Employment Ordinance.  


The proposed amendment to the Employment Ordinance seeks to offer
$(C(Bflexibility$B(Bto employers to terminate their FDHs on the basis of $(C(Bmutual
agreement$(D(B, that is, on payment of a mutually-agreed sum of money.   


When we opposed the wage-cut for FDHs, we feared that this would be only
the opening salvo on the attack to rights of FDHs and migrant workers. In
our joint statement opposing the wage-cut, we stated: $(C(BDoing away with
the minimum wage for FDHs, whose wages are already frozen, will
legitimize underpayment leaving

the door open for greater abuses and violations of employment contracts
by unscrupulous employers$(D(B.  With the proposal to deny them maternity
protection, the Government is clearly opening another front for such
employers to flout labour laws. 


The so-called $(C(Bflexibility$(D(B and $(C(Bmutual agreement$(D(B will only increase the
incidence of contract violations and abuses that FDHs have to contend
with. Even under existing labour laws, employers have continued to
flagrantly

violate employment contracts.  In such circumstances, the proposed
amendment to the Employment Ordinance will only provide a loophole for
unfair termination of FDH contracts. 


Ironically, the proposal to do away with maternity protection for FDHs
has the backing of the Labour Department. How does the Labour
Department$B(Bs position on this issue measure up to its avowed goals of
enhancing the well-being of Hong Kong$B(Bs workforce, and improving and
safeguarding employees' rights and

benefits, as its vision and mission statement proclaims? Does the Labour
Department seriously want us to believe that the abolition of maternity
protection is not a violation of the rights of FDHs? And that, on the

contrary, it would $(C(Bimprove and safeguard$(D(B their rights?     


Just as the wage-cut for FDHs was a precursor to the reduction of wages
for local workers, the proposed abolition of maternity protection of FDHs
might well be extended to local workers too. It is important, therefore,
that the proposed amendment be seen as posing a potentially serious
threat to the rights of all workers in Hong Kong.  Once again, we
re-affirm our unity and solidarity with local workers in the common
struggle for the protection of rights of ALL workers, and call on
overseas and local workers to close ranks.  


We reject the proposed amendment to deny maternity protection to FDHs. It
is discriminatory, as it is applicable only to those in the category of
foreign domestic helpers. It is racist, as it seeks to exclude workers of
certain nationalities from enjoying a right available to local workers
and those of other nationalities. It is sexist, as it is targets women
for oppression. 


The hard-won right of women, especially women workers around the world,
for maternity protection, is now under threat. The Hong Kong government
sees pregnancy and maternity as a 'hindrance' to more effective and
productive labour. In reality, the attempt to tinker with maternity
protection is just an excuse to lower wages for women, to lay-off women
workers and to deny their legal rights and benefits, so that businesses
can rake in bigger profits and spend less on social and contractual
obligations.


More dangerously, the proposal brings us back to the age of slavery --
where the right to bear children was considered a threat to productivity.
The HongKong Government is now seeking to usher in an age of slavery
where domestic helpers are forbidden to bear children under threat of
contract termination. The proposed amendment to the Employment Ordinance
is clearly a scandalous retrogression from universally accepted labour
and human rights standards.


We condemn this latest attempt of the Hong Kong Government to whittle
away the few rights and benefits available to FDHs. It is shameful that
the Government is violating its own declared commitments to various
international covenants and conventions on the protection of human
rights. 


We also call on the Labour Department to live up to its own vision and
mission of improving and safeguarding workers$B(B rights and benefits. 


We demand: 


(a)     that the Hong Kong Government withdraw the proposed amendment and
ensure that the  Employment Ordinance continues to be applicable in its
entirety to FDHs;


(b)     that the Government call an immediate halt to the undeclared
policy of taking away, one by one, the rights and benefits of FDHs;


(c)     that the Labour Department take meaningful measures to protect
and safeguard the rights of FDHs and local workers.

 

ASIAN MIGRANT COODINATING BODY (AMCB), OTHER MIGRANT ORGANIZATIONS  AND
ADVOCATES$B(B GROUP:

  

1.      Association of Sri Lankans in Hong Kong (ASL-HK)-AMCB

2.      Friends of Thai (FOT) - AMCB

3.      Far East Nepalese Association (FEONA) - AMCB

4.      United Filipinos in Hong Kong (UNIFIL-HK) - AMCB

5.      Abra Migrant Workers Welfare Association (AMWWA)

6.      Association of Concerned Filipinos (ACFIL)

7.      Bataan Migrant Workers Union (BMWU)

8.      Dumarao Hong Kong Association

9.      Friends of Bethune House (FBH)

10.     Iloilo Migrant Workers Organization (IMWO)

11.     Justice and Peace  Evangelization Family

12.     Methodist Filipino Fellowship (MFF)

13.     Pinatud A Saleng Ti Umili (PSU)

14.     Unified Friends of Hong Kong

15.     Women of the Philippine Independent Church (WOPIC)

16.     United Ybanag Association (UYA)

17.     Filipino Friends in Hong Kong (FRIENDS)

18.     Surallah Hong Kong Association

19.     Abra-Tinggian Ilocano Society (ATIS)

20. 	 World Student Christian Federation (WSCF)

21.  	 Asian Student Association (ASA)

22.  	 Mission for Filipino Migrant Workers (MFMW)

23.  	 The Bethune House Migrant Women$B(Bs Refuge

24.     Fr. Tom Danaher

25.   	 Peggy Lee-AMRC

26.  	 Ed Shepard - AMRC

27.  	 Ana Enriquez - AMRC

28.  	 Vivien Liu - AMRC

29.  	 Selma Midhi Hayati

30.  	 Asia Monitor Resource Center (AMRC)

31.  	 Hong Kong Women Workers Association (HKWWA)

32.  	 Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee (HKCIC)

33.  	 Rosalie San Miguel, Jesus Is Lord (JIL)