Most Indonesian workers in Hong Kong underpaid

Most Indonesian workers in Hong Kong underpaid

Blontank, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Semarang

Around 80 percent of the 70,000 Indonesian workers employed as
domestic helpers in Hong Kong in reality receive around HK$ 2,400
per month, which is far below the minimum monthly wage in the
Chinese autonomous territory, according to a government official.

Indrawan Solaeman, an specialist advisor in the Ministry of
Manpower and Transmigration, said upon his arrival home from Hong
Kong that he had obtained the information from Indonesia's
Consulate General and many Indonesian workers employed in Hong
Kong.

"Many workers have complained to the Consulate General about
cuts in their monthly salary by recruitment agencies in Hong
Kong, but no action has ever been taken," he said, adding that he
also received complaints from workers enjoying their days off at
Victoria Park in Hong Kong.

The minimum wage in Hong Kong is set at $3,670 per month.

Indrawan said that payment of the minimum wage was also
stipulated in the employment contracts between workers and their
employers, but the trouble was the workers received their
salaries from the recruitment agencies that had supplied them to
their respective employers.

He said that staff in the Indonesian Consulate General and
Indonesian labor exporting companies were allegedly involved in
the salary cuts as all contracts were signed by the labor
exporters with certification being provided by the Consulate
General's staff.

Saleh Alwaini, the president of PT Binawan, a company that
supplies unskilled workers to Hong Kong, blamed the Consulate
General for the workers' salary cuts because, besides having
copies of the labor contracts, the Consulate General was
responsible for resolving such labor problems.

"The Consulate General's staff handling labor problems have
their own interests in seeing more workers employed in Hong Kong
as they receive fees for the recruitment of Indonesian workers
here," he told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Separately, Minister on Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa
Wea said during a visit to Semarang on Friday that he would leave
for Hong Kong to look into the cutting of Indonesian workers'
salaries.

"This is very embarrassing, and I will ask foreign minister
Hasan Wirayuda to take strict measures against any staff of the
Consulate General who are found guilty of labor extortion," he
said.

The minister said that besides imposing strict measures, he
would also ask the foreign minister to assign labor attaches in
foreign countries employing Indonesian workers to help resolve
labor problems.

He said he had decided to revoke the licenses of 12 labor
exporters who were found to have violated labor export
regulations. Several of these companies were involved in the
cutting of workers' salaries.

He declined to identify the 12 labor exporters.

Nuwa Wea said his office would strictly enforce the new
ministerial decree on labor exports to avoid labor extortion and
provide legal protection for Indonesian workers overseas.

"The new decree gives authority to the Ministry of Manpower
and Transmigration to send unskilled workers overseas to avoid
labor extortion, and it also sets stricter requirements for labor
exports and threatens stiffer sanctions against errant labor
exporters," he said.