Migrant Watch 

Bigger Protests to Greet New Year in Hong Kong

Thousands of Asian domestics in Hong Kong will greet the New Year with bigger protests if Chinese authorities do not junk their plan to impose a HK$750 levy on their earnings.

By Bulatlat.com

Filipino migrants in Hong Kong protest against wage cuts

Connie Bragas-Regalado, spokesperson of the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body (AMCB), revealed this over the weekend days after more than 5,000 domestics took to the streets of Hong Kong to dramatize their opposition to the planned levy. AMCB is composed of migrant groups from the Philippines, Nepal, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

“The outpouring of protests shows to the levy proponents and the HK government that  enough is enough with the attacks to our wage, job security and livelihood,” Regalado said in a statement sent to Bulatlat.com. “We have suffered enough and we say that it must end now.”

The AMCB delivered a written petition to Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa demanding that the levy and wage cut proposals be scrapped. About 20,000 workers signed the petition.

“These are the signatures that represent our families who shall be gravely affected by any slash to our wage,” Regalado said.

Regalado, who is also a leader of the United Filipinos in Hong Kong (Unifil-HK), said that the big protest march held Dec. 16 was just the first of a series of actions domestics are planning to launch against the levy proposal.

“If the levy and wage cut proposals are not junked immediately, then we shall greet the coming year with bigger and wider protests,” she also said. “It will be a season of protests for the migrants community of Hong Kong.”

The next big protest is set on Jan.12.

Filipino domestics, along with thousands of other Asian migrants, won a major fight last year against a Hong Kong wage cut proposal by up to 25 percent. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo urged the protesters to negotiate for a lower cut, a position which angered Filipino domestics even more. Their struggle paid off as Hong Kong authorities were forced to backed down.

To redeem herself, Macapagal-Arroyo has sent Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas to Hong Kong to ask authorities to drop the plan. Bulatlat.com

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