Welcome to BASE21

The Countdown has Begun.

Two weeks from today, the Hong Kong Government is set to release their decision on the wage cut issue. As the final date approaches, the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body (AMCB) still maintains our strong position: NO TO WAGE CUT!

It has been more than two months since the news that the Education and Manpower Bureau (EMB) of the HK Government has said that they are conducting a review on the proposal to cut the wages of Foreign Domestic Helpers (FDHs) from 15-30% in light of the ongoing HK economic crisis. From the start, the AMCB has made its stand very clear: it is unfair, unjust, and inhuman that during these trying times, the government has chosen to attack the livelihood of the most vulnerable sector of the HK working community. No amount of logical and technical economic reasoning can deny that cutting the minimum wage for the FDH, set as a benchmark for a person to survive in HK, would only push the migrant workers further down the ladder of poverty. In times of crisis, the one who has the most to lose must get the maximum protection required.

We started the campaign with a bang. The 2,000 strong march last December 2 has shown the anger of the migrant workers to the wage cut proposal and also to the concurrent proposal in the Legislative Council (LegCo) to abolish the live-out arrangement for FDHs. It has shown to the HK government that we will not take these issues sitting down. Our initial show of strength has even made the HK government decide to have a dialogue with us to hear our position.

This historical action was soon followed up by a series of protest rallies and public fora by the AMCB and by AMCB member organizations in the Thai, Indonesian, Nepali, Sri Lankan, and Filipino migrants communities. Through this, we steadily built and fortified our ranks in order to intensify our campaign.

Aside from strengthening the migrants movement itself, we have also painstakingly reached out to the HK local workers to get their support in our issues. We held a series of meetings with local groups and churches for we believe that the voices of the local community are also crucial to the success of our campaign. Only through the unity and solidarity of local and migrant workers can the rights and wellbeing of the working people of Hong Kong be advanced.

We have utilized every venue and we have engaged in every arena of struggle. Today, we are back to the streets, for, as our experiences have taught us, this is where battles are won or lost.

Two weeks from now, the decision on the wage cut shall be announced. Only two possibilities exist: either we are assured that the minimum wage remains for the rest of the year, or we and our families back home are facing a bleak and hard future. Either way, we have already triumphed. The strength that we have gathered and the unity that we have achieved can only mean greater advances for the migrants movement in the coming years. The experiences that we have had in this campaign shall serve as valuable lessons for us as we fight against any subsequent moves of the HK government to further infringe on our rights and attack our wellbeing. We did not despair before when a 5% wage cut was implemented in 1999 and we shall not despair now for we stand on what is just.

The Asian migrants, united to oppose the wage cut, have again taken the fight to where it belongs. For this, we have already won.

No to Wage Cut!
No to Abolition of Live Out Employment Arrangement!
Migrants Unite!
Long Live International Solidarity!

13 January 2002
Asian Migrants Coordinating Body (AMCB)
Members:
Association of Sri Lankans (ASL)
Assosiasi Tenaga Kerja Indonesia (ATKI)
(Association of Idonesian Migrant Workers)
Far-East Overseas Nepalese Association (FEONA-HK)
Friends of Thai (FOT)
United Filipinos in Hong Kong (UNIFIL-HK)
8/F., Room 801C, Witty Commercial Bldg.,
1A-1L Tung Choi St., Mongkok,
Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR
Tel no(s): (852) 2810-4379, 2388-7554, 2718-6498, 9608-1475, 9096-8902
Fax no(s): 2526-2894, 2626-9396
E-mail: amcb@hongkong.com