Artist "changed job" as a MTR cleaner to experience the "highest job" job with the lowest wage in Hong Kong

The statutory minimum wage in Hong Kong is maintained at $37.5 per hour. The local artist Cheng Chin-wai, who has always been concerned about labor rights, learned in recent months that the MTR contracted cleaners are "only hard and not paid" compared to the FEHD cleaners, so he "changed" to work. MTR contracted out cleaners, pushing garbage trucks to clean the toilets and lobbies every day. He experienced the blood and sweat of cleaners for the first time. He criticized the government for exploiting a group of cleaners who most need government support. He hoped that more citizens would care about cleaners. Rights.

The government announced earlier that it would maintain the minimum wage at 37.5 yuan, which is equivalent to "freezing the salary" of some grassroots employees. The local artist Cheng Zhanwei, who recently studied the minimum wage, thought that it would not be easy to find a job in Hong Kong and still maintain it at 37.5 yuan. "There is a group of people nearby." For example, the subway outsourced cleaners live on this salary, and they still do less than 10,000 yuan a month for 30 days.

Cheng Zhanwei, a local artist who has always been concerned about labor rights, has "changed" to MTR since last month as an outsourced cleaner. He pushes garbage trucks around the station every day to clean up, experiencing the blood, sweat and tears of cleaners for the first time.

(Interviewee/Provided by Cheng Zhanwei)

Workers: Actually no one can help us

Cheng Zhanwei had a conversation with some subway outsourced cleaners beforehand. A famous worker had a detailed discussion with him for nearly two hours, but finally decided that "there are actually no people who can help us." Cheng Zhanwei was very touched. In order to better understand the plight of cleaners, Cheng Zhanwei applied for the position of subway cleaner since last month.

The MTR contracted out cleaners are divided into three shifts. For every 8 hours of work, the MTR’s cleaning service is outsourced to two cleaning service contractors, and both contractors hire cleaners at a minimum wage of $37.5.

Cheng Zhanwei works five days a week in the subway station. The working hours are from 3 pm to 11 pm. In the past month, there are only two stations on the main Tuen Ma Line. However, there are only two people on duty during the shift period, but the workload is amazing than expected. He needs to wash the toilet every hour, disinfect the escalator every two hours, mopping the floor, and clean the station lobby. Even if he is younger among the cleaners, he "must not have enough time to do it."

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37.5 yuan manual allocation of the most abominable work toilet blockage will be "gold everywhere"

After working for a month, he heard countless workers telling their daily sad deeds at work. For example, a colleague said that the toilets were often blocked. If the workers failed to drain the drains by themselves, he would have to ask an expert for help. However, the person in charge did not include the cleaning afterwards, and finally "gold everywhere." , And finally the workers have to deal with it.

He also knows at work that employees need to be vaccinated before they can go to work. This is more stringent than the outsourcing cleaners from the food ring. On the one hand, they do not have any fake injections, but they are given a mask every day, and the MTR has further streamlined cleaners’ hands , There are large stations from 11 people to 9 people, and small stations from 3 people to 2 people. The scope of work is large, the work tasks are more onerous, and the salary is not proportional to the harvest.

The problem stems from the erratic stance of the institutional government

After years of efforts by non-governmental organizations, the salaries of cleaners outsourced by the government have improved significantly, but the salaries of the same cleaners are quite different.

For example, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department stipulates that there are more than 300 people entering and leaving public toilets every day, so it is necessary to hire a dedicated toilet attendant. Take the public toilet at the tunnel entrance of Tai Po Station as an example. Responsible for the areas outside the toilet and lobby, only the minimum wage is paid, but the hourly wage difference between the two is 15.5 yuan. If the monthly salary is 30 days, the salary gap will be as high as 3,720 yuan.

Ching Chin-wai believes that the government’s position in handling MTR matters has been "jumping in". Obviously, it holds three-quarters of the MTR shares. The current Secretary for Transportation and Housing, Chen Fan, is also a non-executive director of the MTR. On the one hand, the government Understand the importance of reforms, and have worked hard to improve the treatment of outsourced cleaners, but did not treat everyone equally, and reformed the system to the MTR, which has a controlling stake.

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Exploitation groups that should be supported the most hope that citizens will pay attention and speak out

Cheng Zhanwei believes that many workers are forced to do so. Most of them are new immigrants, elderly people or people who have suffered physical injuries due to years of work. Can be dumb.

He also said that even if the turnover rate of outsourced cleaners is high, the company is unwilling to raise wages, just because the company understands that "they (the cleaners) don’t do anything else.” He described this as a kind of class discrimination. Groups are clearly the people who need support most, but they are exploited because of the system.

Cheng Zhanwei pointed out that many workers lack the ability to tell stories and are unable to defend their rights. This has caused them to encounter unfair exploitation repeatedly in society. He hopes that the public can pay attention to the rights and interests of more grassroots workers.

We usually enjoy the service from the toilets in the station. Try to understand that we are using the same service, and the workers behind it are being squeezed.

Cheng Zhanwei

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