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Hong Kong`s foreign maids mark New Year with protest march
Hong Kong, Jan 01: Several thousand foreign maids working in Hong Kong marched on New Year`s day to protest against a proposed tax on their wages.
Hong Kong, Jan 01: Several thousand foreign maids working in Hong Kong marched on New Year's day to protest against a proposed tax on their wages.
"No to levy, no to wage cut," chanted the domestic workers as they marched from Victoria Park to Chater Garden. "The people united will never be defeated."
Filipinos make up the biggest number of live-in maids in Hong Kong, with an estimated 153,000 of them working here, followed by some 70,000 Indonesians and smaller numbers of Thais and Nepalese.
Organizers said about 8,000 migrant workers participated in the March -- the biggest in recent months -- against the proposed monthly levy, which would range from 400 Hong Kong dollars to US$51 to US$96. Police said they had no immediate crowd estimate.
The issue has sparked concern among Filipino, Indonesian and Thai officials. Last month, the Philippine labor secretary Patricia Santo Tomas visited Hong Kong to lobby against the tax.
Santo Tomas had warned that the tax would not only harm the maids and their families back home, but also Hong Kong's economy as the workers would cut back their spending here.
"The levy is going to be a big amount on our part," said 33-year-old Marilyn Manipon, a demonstrator and a native of Urd Aneta city in the Northern Philippine province of Pangasinan.
Bureau Report
"No to levy, no to wage cut," chanted the domestic workers as they marched from Victoria Park to Chater Garden. "The people united will never be defeated."
Filipinos make up the biggest number of live-in maids in Hong Kong, with an estimated 153,000 of them working here, followed by some 70,000 Indonesians and smaller numbers of Thais and Nepalese.
Organizers said about 8,000 migrant workers participated in the March -- the biggest in recent months -- against the proposed monthly levy, which would range from 400 Hong Kong dollars to US$51 to US$96. Police said they had no immediate crowd estimate.
The issue has sparked concern among Filipino, Indonesian and Thai officials. Last month, the Philippine labor secretary Patricia Santo Tomas visited Hong Kong to lobby against the tax.
Santo Tomas had warned that the tax would not only harm the maids and their families back home, but also Hong Kong's economy as the workers would cut back their spending here.
"The levy is going to be a big amount on our part," said 33-year-old Marilyn Manipon, a demonstrator and a native of Urd Aneta city in the Northern Philippine province of Pangasinan.
Bureau Report