Dozens of domestic workers marched to the Hong Kong Immigration Department office in Wan Chai on Thursday to protest against policies they claim make them like slaves.
They protested on International Women’s Day against the ban on what is known as “job-hopping”, a policy announced by the Immigration Department in 2003 that does not allow a change of employer if a domestic worker has had three terminations of an employment contract in one year, sunwebhk.com reported.
The protest organizer, Asian Migrants Coordinating Body (AMCB-IMA HK), also objects to the mandatory live-in rule, which states that domestic workers must leave Hong Kong within two weeks of losing their jobs.
“We too are women workers with rights and yet many HK policies bind us to conditions that practically make us slaves,” the group’s press release stated.
They said the limitations on their stay have led to abuses, some extreme, as in the case of Indonesian domestic worker Erwiana Sulistyaningsih.
Hope too that they will remove the limitations that if 3 consecutive breaks,can’t come back to work. As some employers are not following the contract, having extra persons to serve in their house.or they even include their parents house as they know the helper cant break contract anymore…so sad