A union representing foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong has urged authorities to more than double their monthly food allowance to HK$2,770 (US$350), saying the current stipend averaging HK$13.30 per meal is insufficient due to inflation. Representatives from the Federation of Asian Domestic Workers Unions (FADWU) met Labour Department officials on Sunday after staging a…
On a recent stormy Sunday, domestic helpers on their weekly day off were seen hastily erecting tents and laying out plastic sheets under footbridges and inside transport hubs in Hong Kong’s Tsuen Wan district as they sought refuge from the downpour. Dozens of tents were pitched around the pillars of the footbridges, while other groups…
Domestic workers in Hong Kong are routinely banned from switching on air conditioning when working at home alone, union leaders have said, urging employers to allow helpers to use it during very hot weather. The issue surfaced last week after an employer drew widespread online criticism for scolding her domestic helper for switching on an…
A Hong Kong employers’ group has called for freezing the minimum salaries of foreign domestic helpers given the economic slowdown, after some unions representing the workers asked for up to a 30 per cent pay rise to HK$6,500 (US$833) a month. Yung Ma Shan-yee, chairwoman of the Hong Kong Employers of Overseas Domestic Helpers Association,…
A coalition of domestic worker unions has demanded an immediate 30 per cent pay rise for Hong Kong’s 370,000 helpers to HK$6,500 (US$833) a month and for their food subsidy to be doubled. The Hong Kong Federation of Asian Domestic Workers Unions on Sunday blamed current government policy for having left many helpers in a…