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.