Ridwan Max Sijabat, Hong Kong – Female migrant workers took to the streets of Hong Kong late last week to stage a protest in front of the Indonesian Consulate General building, calling on local authorities and labor recruitment agencies to respect their rights.
The workers called on the two sides to comply with the Indonesian regulation to reduce the recruitment fee by 50 percent, and to not cut their contracts before they expired.
The protesters, many of whom are domestic helpers, marched along the streets surrounding the consulate general compound, carrying signs which called on local authorities to give penalties to unscrupulous labor agencies, and to stop them imposing hefty recruitment fees.
The street protest was part of a campaign initiated by Indonesian migrant workers in the past three months to raise awareness of Ministerial Decree No. 98/2012, issued by the Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar in May 2012, which mandated the slashing of recruitment fees.
The Ministerial Decree stipulates that a migrant worker should only pay HK$13,436 (US$1,732), instead of the current HK$21,000, before they are allowed to work in Hong Kong.
Some of the protesters said they have been subjected to exploitation long before the decree was issued, and even after the regulation was issued, they had to allow HK$3,000 to be deducted from their montly salary for seven months to pay for the recruitment fee.
"In the first seven months of our employment, we receive no salary and can barely send one cent home, because our salary is given directly to our local agents," said Lastri, a woman migrant worker from Brebes, Central Java. Lastri said that a female domestic helper like her earns HK$3,740 per month.
Chairperson of the Alliance of Indonesian Migrant Workers (AIMW) in Hong Kong, Sringatin, said they were disappointed with the Hong Kong authorities for failing to punish unscrupulous labor agencies who did not follow the new regulation.
"The labor ministry in Hong Kong has been told about the decree, and said that it was a fair regulation, but they should have taken harsher action against labor agencies who force employers to unilaterally terminate their two-year labor contract only a month before it expires, in their attempts to have workers sign new contracts, and have their salaries cut in the next seven months," she said.
The ministerial decree stipulates that workers should not pay any recruitment fees when their contracts are renewed. Sringatin revealed that in compliance with Indonesia's regulation, labor exporters were required to pay HK$700 for medical check-ups, $150 for insurance, and HK$220 for psychological tests for workers before their departure.
Employers, meanwhile, were required to buy a $363 insurance scheme for their workers upon their arrival in Hong Kong. "These costs should not be passed on to workers," she said.
Employers and workers have been charged both by Indonesian and Hong Kong labor agencies to repay the whole cost. Sringatin said the double payment have been responsible for the worsening of labor conditions in Hong Kong, which has long been known as a haven for Indonesian migrant workers.
Separately, director general for Labor Placement and Protection at the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry Reyna Usman, who was in Hong Kong over the weekend, said that she had already discussed the issue with the local authorities.
In a meeting with labor activists on Saturday, Reyna said she would ask labor recruitment agencies in Indonesia to send workers to government-managed training centers to undergo the required 200-hour training before their departure, in order to cut the recruitment fee. She said that Indonesian labor agencies and their Hong Kong counterparts should be willing to cut their profits to comply with the Indonesian regulation.
Reyna also said that while gradually reducing the number of informal workers sent abroad, the government has intensified its post-employment training program to prepare returning workers for running small business. "The government has decided to stop sending of informal workers by 2017, because the program is quite prone to human rights abuses," she said.