Filipino workers in Hong Kong want to be spared from cleaning the windows.
Since the Martial law, the Filipino people are well-known to practice the so-called, “People Power” by occupying the streets and shouting grievances out.
Well, rallying, especially for labor causes, is not only in the Philippines. Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Hong Kong are also planning to organize a rally to free themselves from cleaning the window.
Window cleaning has cost many Filipino lives. Some fall accidentally while some fall because of some deliberate reasons.
Allow me to say that window cleaning can sometimes be an alibi for deaths, not only in Hong Kong but also in some other parts of the world.
OFWs and other migrant workers in Hong Kong are urging the Hong Kong government to stop employers from ordering their helpers to clean windows from the outside.
The new call follows last week’s fatal fall of a Filipino helper in Tseung Kwan O while reportedly cleaning windows.
Migrant workers are planning a big rally next month to push their demand for a $5,000 monthly pay. They also want their food allowance raised to $1,600 and to have the same number of working hours as other Hong Kong employees.
The demands were among those submitted by migrant support organizations to Labour and Welfare Secretary Matthew Cheung when he conferred with them in his Sheung Wan office in the run-up to the government’s annual wage review.
“We presented our $5,000 proposal and also discussed the safety of workers because of the succession of work-related deaths of domestic helpers,” Dolores Balladares, Unifil-Migrante Hong Kong chairwoman, said in an interview with The SUN on Aug 17.
But she advised her “kababayans” not to expect much because of some uncertainties in the local economy.
“Cleaning window exteriors is a task that should not be assigned to domestic workers, because that work should be the responsibility of building management”, said Balladares.