More suffering for ailing workers

Ailing Filipino domestic workers here are faced with threats not only of termination from employment but also of not being able to obtain treatment for their illness once their employer discovers they are diagnosed to have been suffering from sickness.

Although it is illegal to terminate a worker for reasons of illness; however, employers does terminate sick workers. They anyhow had no obligations to provide explanations or disclose this and they do deliberately hide this from authorities here. A one month prior notice is what an employer requires to either terminate a worker; or, break their contract.

While a penalty of HKD100,000 (623, 003 pesos) could be imposed as penalty for any employers who are found to have terminated their employee for reasons of their illness, however, to prove whether or not illness was indeed the reason is extremely difficult for terminated workers to establish. One, employer are not required to explain in details should they decide to terminate a contract as long as the one month notice is met; nor, they had obligations to continuously employ a sick worker.

Excessive fees, meager benefits

When a worker fall ill or meet accident, to obtain sufficient assistance from the Philippine government maybe nil, if not impractical at all. Normally, sending country like ours should have been responsible for ensuring the welfare of ailing overseas workers; however, instead they often obtain assistance from host country than their own.

While our government strictly collects payments from overseas workers; for instance, membership fee for Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) which cost about Php1,200 in reality the workers are largely not aware of how these funds are disburse or what their benefits are being members.

Also, although membership to OWWA should have not been compulsory, some OWWA collection officers nevertheless impress upon the workers they are obviously only to be able to collect fees. The OWWA receives no funding from the government as they operate entirely on the membership fees collected from the workers.

Not easy as it gets

Working abroad or marrying a foreigner so that one could leave the country has since unfortunately becomes a common interest to most Filipinos. The condition upon which none of those whom I met, even my own siblings, relatives and friends, would want stay if only given opportunity demonstrates the reality of how desperate the condition, particularly in seeking employment, that existed in our country.

However, instead that this scenario should merit a critical reflection for us Filipinos to what our country has become today, to have someone in the family who works and lives abroad has unfortunately become a status symbol. This mindset has since created a scenario that is unfavorable to those Filipinos working and living overseas. It often perpetuates the false sense of having a better life forgetting the harsh realities of migration.

Sometimes relationships between the families, relatives, neighbors and friends are strained because of petty and childish mentality only to perpetuate the preconceived idea of a worker’s relative that they obtain a higher status in their community. This scenario often result to a struggling migrant worker having had to skip meals or refrain from buying his personal needs only to remit a bigger amount of money back home.

Hardest hit over unemployment

She had been working with her foreign firm for over a decade, but she was laid off as her colleague, who is a local Chinese, was chosen in her stead. With the territory’s economy still struggling, more and more Filipino workers—domestic workers or otherwise—are losing their jobs as they become first casualties in recent days.

Though it is not openly admitted, local employers have their own methods of deciding who to layoff and who to retain. Here, it is illegal to make preference to employing or retaining workers, but some could get away with it. In recent days, worker’s nationality—as mentioned above, health condition or even physical appearance—has become the preference of employers to hire workers.

The worker I mentioned had been laid off and she and her family are Hong Kong residents. She and her ailing husband have been living and working with their children who grew up here and had already adapted to the territory’s way of life. But unlike in old days, when her husband was still employed before he fell ill, their condition was better.

Business is often not as usual

To succeed or not in business depends on various factors, but one should have the knowledge to the products and services they sell; however, in contrast the stories of the two Filipinos that I became aware of in Hong Kong it matters the least.

Of these two Filipinos, one had been able to expand her business despite having no idea at all, according to a friend formerly with the Hong Kong police, for her to even apply for the appropriate license to operate her business. The other one though had to close her shop after being caught committing wrongdoings by collecting money for her illegal lending activity.

While getting license to operate and to run a business according to the nature of business that was applied for back home is least of the businessman’s worry, in Hong Kong it is otherwise. One could not just open and start running a business without having prior permits; and once the operator is given a permit the compliance to its condition is strict otherwise one loses his business.

Christmas Day’s irony

What appears to be Hong Kong’s cheerful and joyous observance of Christmas holidays was actually a devoid from the realities of life. Behind its extravagant displays of Christmas decors lies an unspoken realities of how harsh it is for others—particularly for Filipino workers and those suffering illness.

The experiences of Filipinos I had came across on Christmas Day speaks to the irony of life that we Filipinos had been living. It was the stories of a family 16 Filipino tourists who had just arrived from Manila to spend a holiday here, and that of the group of domestic workers—two of whom are cancer patients and one had just been terminated from her job.

While waiting for a ferry ride from Hong Kong Island to an outlying island, Lamma Island, a place best known for its breathtaking coastal scenery and delicious seafood restaurants, a colleague of mine, was approached by one of the family of Filipino tourist spending Christmas holidays here. It was not surprising for him to be approached by Filipinos as he himself is a known person back home.

Helpers struggle for legal rights

Adequate legal protection for domestic helpers is perhaps one of the most neglected areas, if, in fact, it has been considered at all. Both foreign domestic helpers (FDH) and local helpers lacked adequate legal protection for their rights and welfare and this makes them extremely vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.

At a discussion group held last Sunday, December 15, which was attended by FDHs from the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand and also local helpers, it appears that though the majority of abuses are perpetrated upon foreign helpers, this group felt they are better-off compared to their local counterparts. Local helpers in Hong Kong, as in the Philippines have little or no legal protection at all. They have no minimum wage, no social and health insurance coverage or others benefits.

While foreign helpers are paid a monthly minimum wage of HKD 3,580 (Php22,076) upon signing a contract (although, in reality some are not actually receiving the full amount, locals are paid only HKD 2,800 (Php17,266) a month. In Hong Kong local helpers, unlike FDHs, do not reside at their employer’s homes, they have to shoulder their own food and accommodation expenses. Furthermore, the work the same exhausting hours that FDHs work with the additional traveling time. Like the FDHs, they are expected to work overtime without extra pay or time off in lieu.

The cost of pregnancy on domestic workers

Little known to many, apart from struggling to deal the effects of having separated from families and the demands of money back home, unexpected pregnancy on workers here also illustrates the sad realities they have had to struggle hard.

For workers to get pregnant here they are left with choosing between giving birth to a baby and the families to feed back home. However, for them to carry on giving birth and to carry on their pregnancy while working often cost a tool. It is financially, physically and psychologically costly on expecting workers.

Though it is no longer a surpise for married women to return pregnant after spending holidays from backhome; however, not only the fear of getting terminated from work but also of how their employers are treating is discriminating. They had either no adequate legal protection or moral support that expecting women needed to have.

Billboard: Consultation on Code of practice on employment for minorities

After the Hong Kong government promulgated the Race Discrimination Ordinance (RDO) on 18 July 2008, the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) had proposed a draft Code of Practice on Employment.

Since the draft Code was made public, the EOC has been holding public consultation since 13 October 2008 and until 8 December 2008 seeking any comments of feedback from the public, in particular the ethnic minorities, including Filipinos, who are working and living in Hong Kong.

Please read through the RDO and the Code for better understanding of this law and proposed Code of Conduct respectively. The RDO though is seen somehow by some human rights groups as lacking tooth and full of loopholes thereby permitting perpetuation of discrimination.

Thus, your views are required in shaping better the policies which provides protection for ethnic minorities in the working places. Those interested in this Consultation are encouraged to join.

A hide and seek business

Pressed with the needs in coping with the financial demands from back home, foreign domestic workers, not only Filipino, are forced to make ends met by playing a dangerous game of hide and seek by doing business before the watchful eyes of the Hong Kong police.

Few months ago, six Filipina domestic workers were convicted and subsequently jailed for several months. Their offense was aggravated by financial needs. A local Magistrate’s Court had them convicted for charges of violating their conditions of stay, the anti-hawking law (local term for illegal vendors) and for selling counterfeited goods after they were caught selling Digital Video Disc (DVD) movies.

In Hong Kong, foreign domestic workers are prohibited from engaging in business or employment other than their employers. If in our country you can find foreigners operating money lending businesses without appropriate permits, or local people laying down their gems and stones along streets for cheap prices; doing so here would have tremendous consequence.