Manila warns HK over wage cut plan

Manila warns HK over wage cut plan

Reuters, Hong Kong

A Philippine minister warned on Thursday that Manila may stop
its nationals from coming to Hong Kong to work if the Chinese
territory decides to cut the minimum wages of foreign maids here.

The warning came as Hong Kong's 240,000 foreign maids are
becoming increasingly agitated over proposals by some local
political parties to trim their monthly minimum wage of HK$3,670
(US$470) by as much as 20 percent to help employers ride out the
economic downturn.

"We have our options as well. We might decide not to approve
contracts that fall below the minimum wage level," Philippine
Secretary of Labor and Employment, Patricia Sto. Tomas, told a
news conference in Hong Kong.

The issue has caused unease in Manila and Philippine President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo dispatched Sto. Tomas to Hong Kong this
week to try to dissuade the local government from cutting wages.

Sto. Tomas met Hong Kong's Secretary for Economic Development
and Labor Stephen Ip on Wednesday and passed on a letter
addressed to Hong Kong leader Tung Chee-hwa from Arroyo.

"The minimum wage level is a safety net. That's not supposed
to go down... when times are bad, you don't hit the poorest of
the poor," Sto. Tomas said at the news conference.

While the government has yet to decide on any wage cut, the
city's foreign maids from the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia
and the Indian subcontinent have slammed the proposals as
discriminatory.

More than 1,000 foreign maids took to the streets of Hong Kong
last Sunday to protest the wage cut proposal.

Foreign maids, who free local women from their homes to join
the workforce, are among the lowest-paid employees in Hong Kong
despite working as much as 15 hours a day.

The issue is highly emotional and divisive in an economy where
unemployment is near record levels. Foreign maids are
increasingly blamed for taking jobs from locals as the territory
tries to restart its sickly economy.

Proponents of a wage cut say Hong Kong's minimum wage for
foreign domestics is higher than elsewhere in Asia and even the
proposed reduction will still leave them among the highest paid
in the region.

Tung's cabinet reviews the minimum wage of foreign maids each
year at this time and is expected to make an announcement in the
coming few months.