Decent employers are at risk from fickle foreign domestic helpers
I refer to the article by Rob Connelly ("End discriminatory policies for migrant domestic workers", February 25). As legal adviser to the HK Helpers Campaign, Mr Connelly is evidently in favour of domestic workers. There are many decent employers around, as there are errant foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong.
I refer to the article by Rob Connelly ("End discriminatory policies for migrant domestic workers", February 25).
As legal adviser to the HK Helpers Campaign, Mr Connelly is evidently in favour of domestic workers.
There are many decent employers around, as there are errant foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong.
Seemingly, the problem rests with overseas and local agencies, which get the helpers into debt even before they commence work. It is also the agencies that collude with the helpers to "job hop", a practice indeed lucrative to both parties.
When it comes to "luck", it is equally fortuitous that an employer should get a decent helper.
If Mr Connelly also talked with members of the Employers of Domestic Helpers Association, I expect he would discover there is a proportion of good employers who have felt aggrieved as a result of the actions of foreign helpers.
I applaud the government's stand to (at least) maintain the 14-day grace period [to find a new employer], and the live-in rule, as a deterrent to the increasing number of foreign helpers "moonlighting", for example at Wan Chai clubs. The employer undertakes full responsibility for the helper - not the campaigners.
