HONG KONG (AFP) – Thousands of Filipina maids were set to march through Hong Kong on Sunday, in protest at a labour law proposed by the Philippines government that has angered millions of its citizens working abroad.
The demonstration, set to begin at 2:00 pm (0600 GMT) and directed at the Filipino consulate in this southern Chinese city, is part of a worldwide effort to pressure Philippines President Gloria Arroyo to scrap the proposal.
If passed, it will require each maid working overseas to undergo a two-week training and assessment programme at a cost of 10,000-15,000 pesos (215-320 US dollars).
Maids in Hong Kong typically earn about 450 dollars a month.
Dolores Balladares, chairman of the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body (AMCB), which has organised the rally, dismissed the proposal as “extortion”.
“They are taking advantage of the overseas workers,” said Balladares. “It’s too coincidental with Arroyo’s presidential re-election bid. The feeling here is that she’s doing it to boost her re-election funds.”
Filipinos make up Hong Kong’s largest immigrant community, with some 250,000 maids working in the city.
While the government says about 1.5 million of its citizens work overseas as domestic helpers, an unofficial tally by the AMCB puts the figure closer to 10 million.
They work mostly in the oil-rich Middle East countries, with Saudi Arabia accounting for the largest number, at around 300,000.
Japan accounts for some 280,000 while other Asian nations such as Taiwan and Singapore also have substantial Filipino communities.
Filipinos remitted 10.7 billion dollars through formal banking channels in 2005, a figure that is expected to double by 2010 as overseas demand for labour increases, according to the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines.
The exodus of Filipinas was instigated by former dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the 1970s who urged workers to seek jobs overseas and send back remittances to prop up an economy plundered over the years by his corrupt regime.
The new proposals have angered maids here who already have to pay Philippines government contract fees and saw a 50-dollar cut in their monthly minimum wage imposed by the Hong Kong government in 2003.
Balladares said Sunday’s march would be one of many planned in cities around the world with large Filipino communities.
“We are in communication with fellow migrant workers’ groups around the region — especially in Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Singapore and more recently in Macau,” she said.
Find more like this: News
