Author Archives : Meredith

On the first day of the trial of her former employer Law Wan-tung, Erwiana Sulistyaningsih testified to a full court room that her employer repeatedly beat her with hangers, mops, ladders, and rulers.

The court room let out a collective gasp when Erwiana explained that she was only allowed to sleep for four hours in the afternoon, and was required to work throughout the night. Erwiana said she once fell asleep from exhaustion while vacuuming and was woken by her employer, who forced a vacuum cleaner tube into her mouth and twisted it while it was still running.

“I was tortured,” said Erwiana through a translator.

HK Helpers Campaign volunteers Meredith McBride & Vivian Yan spoke to some of the city’s domestic worker community about the Umbrella Movement occupation protests.

Catherine, from the Philippines, has been living in Hong Kong for 3 years.

“The protesters want this fight and are against China. Maybe they can help us to make… law[s] in favour of the domestic workers? Maybe for me, I am in favour of the protesters because they really fight for their rights, for their democracy.  They make a lot of sacrifices so I hope they win.”

Former civil servant Au Wai-chun has been granted an eighteen month probation after being found guilty of causing actual bodily harm to Raksona Begum, who was working in her home in Tseung Kwan O in September of last year. Begum was hospitalised for five days after receiving first and second degree burns from a boiling cup of water Au poured on her chest.

Au received a six month jail sentence, which was overturned after she explained to the judge that she had ‘lost her temper’. Au received support from her current domestic worker from the Philippines, who allegedly wrote to the court to ask for leniency. After the verdict, domestic worker advocates expressed their concern that a woman found guilty of assaulting a migrant domestic worker in her home would be permitted to hire another.

On September 31st, Hong Kong’s Labour Department announced that the minimum allowable wage for domestic workers will increase by HK$100 per month. The figure is a 2.5% increase on their previous monthly salary of $4010.

The increase will only apply to new contracts signed after October 1st of this year. Domestic workers with existing contracts and those who signed contracts in the days before the announcement will have to wait until their current contract expires before obtaining the wage increase. Domestic workers who do not get food from their employers will also receive an additional $44 per month for food allowance.

via Stefan Irvine

The announcement was met with little joy however, as Hong Kong inflation has increased by 3.6% over the past year according to the Census and Statistics Department. The result is that domestic workers are actually earning less than they did a year ago.

On September 1 the District Court convicted former civil servant Au Wai-chun of causing actual bodily harm to Begum Raksona, a woman from Bangladesh who did domestic work in her home. The incident occurred in September last year at Au’s home at Bauhinia Garden in Tseung Kwan O. The court heard that a dispute arose when Au became angry that a cup of water given to her by Raksona was not hot enough.

Bauhinia Garden in Tseung Kwan O, via Wikicommons