Pinoy maids in Hong Kong get pay hike

MANILA, Philippines - Filipinos and other foreign household service workers (HSWs)  in Hong Kong are getting a much-awaited salary increase, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported yesterday.

Hong Kong’s labor department approved a HK$90 (approximately P500) pay hike in the monthly salary of foreign HSWs, DOLE Undersecretary Danilo Cruz said, citing a report from the Philippine Overseas Labor Office.

The Hong Kong government also adjusted by HK$45 the food allowance of foreign HSWs who do not get food in the house of their employers, Cruz said. Majority of Hong Kong employers provide free food for their foreign HSWs, but they may also choose to just pay a food allowance.

With the increase, the new minimum monthly pay of Filipino HSWs would be HK$4,010 – an increase of 2.3 percent from the previous monthly pay of HK$3,920.  

Hong Kong labor attaché Manuel Roldan said the new minimum wage rate would affect the employment contracts signed yesterday and thereafter.

A group of OFWs, however, expressed their disappointment over the pay hike. In a statement, the Asia Migrants’ Coordinating Body said they asked for the monthly minimum wage to be HK$4,500, based on market analysts’ studies that Hong Kong wage rates increased by six to eight percent.

The group said foreign HSWs work an average of 12 hours and they should be getting a much higher salary increase.