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MANILA, Philippines – Here’s good news for Filipino domestic helpers in Hong Kong.
Malacañang announced on Sunday that the domestic helpers could expect an increase in their monthly wages in June.
Acting Labor Secretary Marianito Roque, who accompanied President Macapagal-Arroyo in her working visit to the former British Crown colony last week, said that Hong Kong would announce a "moderate'' increase in the wage rates of foreign domestic workers not later than June this year.
Roque met with Permanent Secretary for Labor and Welfare Matthew Cheung of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region at the end of the three-day visit.
Roque explained that Hong Kong officials would be able to determine the amount of the increase in the salaries of foreign maids upon the release of statistical data on consumer price index, gross domestic product and other economic indicators at the end of the month.
But Roque said that Cheung would inform the Philippine Consulate in Hong Kong about the wage increase before the formal announcement by government officials.
As of 2007, he said there were 125,000 Filipino workers in the former Crown Colony representing 50 percent of the household workers’ population. The other half are Indonesian workers.
The present salary of foreign domestic workers is HK$3,480 a month, which is HK$270 less than the salary in 2003.
The Hong Kong government imposed a HK$400 levy on employers in 2003, because of the recession that year, and that resulted in an equivalent reduction in the wages of foreign domestic workers.
Over the past two years, the maids' salaries were raised by HK$50 and HK$80 respectively.
Before leaving Hong Kong last week, President Arroyo said she instructed Roque to negotiate for a wage hike for Filipino maids.
