Introducing new foreign aid for domestic helpers will not solve structural problems

New People's Party Legislative Council member Chen Jiapei proposed a motion to "regulate foreign domestic helper agencies and protect employment rights" at the Legislative Council meeting on Thursday (20th). Reviewing the existing legal provisions and codes, reviewing standard employment contracts, setting up a support platform, establishing a regular communication mechanism between the employer and the consulate, and strengthening the functions of the Labour Department and the Labour Tribunal, the motion was finally passed by a large number of votes .

Electoral Committee member Tse Wai-chun proposed an amendment, urging the government to study allowing the importation of domestic helpers from the Mainland.

Although the original motion amended by Liberal Party Li Zhenqiang, DAB Yan Wenyu and Xie Weijun was finally passed in the group vote, the Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-kwong responded that based on immigration control and security, social and family considerations, Therefore, the current entry arrangement for imported domestic helpers does not apply to Chinese residents of the Mainland, Macau or Taiwan.

Law Chi-kwong, Secretary for Labour and Welfare, said that the current entry arrangement for importing domestic helpers does not apply to Chinese residents in the Mainland, the Macao Special Administrative Region or Taiwan, as well as Afghanistan and other places, emphasizing that the approach is based on immigration control and security considerations.

(Photo by Ou Jiale)

The supervision of foreign domestic helper agencies is worth examining

The Department of Sociology of Hong Kong Baptist University published a research report "Strangers/Helps in the Home: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Employment of Domestic Helpers and Family Relations in Hong Kong" in August last year. Non-middle-class households also have great demand for foreign domestic helpers, and it was found that 25% of households from below the median employ foreign domestic helpers.

This means that non-middle-class families are actually limited in the dilemma of hiring foreign domestic helpers, which is more common than what Chen Jiapei said "makes middle-class families very troubled".

Affected by the epidemic, the cost of employing foreign domestic helpers has further increased. At the same time, due to the insufficient quarantine facilities for foreign domestic helpers, the supply of foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong exceeds the demand, which worsens the situation of foreign domestic helpers skipping work, forming a vicious circle.

In fact, in the past five years, there has been an upward trend in the cases of foreign domestic helpers who were instigated by employment agencies to terminate their employment contracts early and change employers (“job skipping”). The number of complaints about termination of employment contract and change of employer (“job skipping”) were 15, 9, 17, 29 and 177 respectively.

Therefore, stricter regulation of foreign domestic helper agencies should help control the situation of employment agencies instigating foreign domestic helpers to terminate their employment contracts early and switch employers (“job skipping”).

MPs ignore structural issues

However, in the face of social structural problems such as the increase in dual-career families, the decline in the birth rate and the rise in the elderly population, the introduction of more foreign domestic helpers for the employment of Hong Kong citizens is actually only a temporary solution. In the end, it will only deepen the current structural problem of Hong Kong's over-reliance on domestic helpers.

Different Members have mentioned that domestic helpers can provide support in family care and help release the female labor force.

This may be correct, but it puts family and career on the opposite side, and citizens must choose between the two.

If it is decided to introduce more domestic helpers, no matter whether the helpers come from abroad or the Mainland, it will not help solve the above-mentioned problems.

The society should learn a lesson from the shortage of foreign domestic helpers caused by the epidemic, and understand that continuing to extend the foreign domestic helper policy is not conducive to the development of Hong Kong society.

Both parliamentarians and the government should take the lead in introducing more and different perspectives to deal with the current problem of Hong Kong's over-reliance on foreign domestic helpers, including promoting family-friendly policies in the workplace, and actively expanding local domestic home services, such as encouraging elderly or retired women to participate in confinement care Classes and other courses, and work in the industry in the future.

On the one hand, the latter is conducive to the development of the industry, and can also release family labor, while reducing the outflow of local resources, which is more beneficial to the development of Hong Kong in the long run.

The greater demand for foreign domestic helpers reflects the more serious structural problems in Hong Kong. The measures to return to Hong Kong are not as good as the government departments of foreign domestic helpers.

Local families crave foreign domestic helpers, the structural problem must eventually be faced