Manila warns HK over wage cut plan<\/p>\n
Reuters, Hong Kong<\/p>\n
A Philippine minister warned on Thursday that Manila may stop
\nits nationals from coming to Hong Kong to work if the Chinese
\nterritory decides to cut the minimum wages of foreign maids here.<\/p>\n
The warning came as Hong Kong's 240,000 foreign maids are
\nbecoming increasingly agitated over proposals by some local
\npolitical parties to trim their monthly minimum wage of HK$3,670
\n(US$470) by as much as 20 percent to help employers ride out the
\neconomic downturn.<\/p>\n
"We have our options as well. We might decide not to approve
\ncontracts that fall below the minimum wage level," Philippine
\nSecretary of Labor and Employment, Patricia Sto. Tomas, told a
\nnews conference in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
The issue has caused unease in Manila and Philippine President
\nGloria Macapagal Arroyo dispatched Sto. Tomas to Hong Kong this
\nweek to try to dissuade the local government from cutting wages.<\/p>\n
Sto. Tomas met Hong Kong's Secretary for Economic Development
\nand Labor Stephen Ip on Wednesday and passed on a letter
\naddressed to Hong Kong leader Tung Chee-hwa from Arroyo.<\/p>\n
"The minimum wage level is a safety net. That's not supposed
\nto go down... when times are bad, you don't hit the poorest of
\nthe poor," Sto. Tomas said at the news conference.<\/p>\n
While the government has yet to decide on any wage cut, the
\ncity's foreign maids from the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia
\nand the Indian subcontinent have slammed the proposals as
\ndiscriminatory.<\/p>\n
More than 1,000 foreign maids took to the streets of Hong Kong
\nlast Sunday to protest the wage cut proposal.<\/p>\n
Foreign maids, who free local women from their homes to join
\nthe workforce, are among the lowest-paid employees in Hong Kong
\ndespite working as much as 15 hours a day.<\/p>\n
The issue is highly emotional and divisive in an economy where
\nunemployment is near record levels. Foreign maids are
\nincreasingly blamed for taking jobs from locals as the territory
\ntries to restart its sickly economy.<\/p>\n
Proponents of a wage cut say Hong Kong's minimum wage for
\nforeign domestics is higher than elsewhere in Asia and even the
\nproposed reduction will still leave them among the highest paid
\nin the region.<\/p>\n
Tung's cabinet reviews the minimum wage of foreign maids each
\nyear at this time and is expected to make an announcement in the
\ncoming few months.<\/p>",
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