We are workers, we are not slaves
Resist attacks against rights of all workers
Statement of the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body on the Occasion of the International Labour Day 2010
It is in our organized strength that the working class shall free ourselves from exploitation and oppression. Such was the lesson of the first May Day and such is the lesson that we must continue to uphold.
The issues of labour continue to be essentially the same from the first protests of workers for an 8-hour workday to the current struggles of workers to defeat monopoly capitalism and establish a society where labour is not exploited for the gains of only a few.
The situation of migrant workers in Hong Kong, especially the domestic workers, shows the slave-like condition of workers that started the May First actions.
Foreign domestic workers are still not included in the statutory minimum wage being discussed in the Legislative Council or LegCo. The Executive Committee (ExCo) just gave false hopes to FDW organizations with calls for position papers or dialogues but at the end of it when it finally mattered, they submitted the SMW proposal that excluded FDWs.
Such is an insult to FDWs. Such tramples on the value of domestic workers as part of the working people of Hong Kong.
The government of Hong Kong has always violated the rights of migrant workers especially when the interests of businesses � directly or indirectly � are threatened. On the issue of our wage, it is always kept depressed in order to prevent the protests that may arise from the locals whose own wage is always kept in check in favor of the interests of profit of the capitalists.
While our inclusion to the SMW remains a topmost concern, we must also not forget our standing issues that keep us as the modern-slaves of Hong Kong. These include the mandatory live in arrangement that makes us work for inhuman hours, the ban on Nepali migrant workers, and the New Conditions of Stay or Two-Week Rule that keeps us vulnerable to many abuses by unscrupulous employers, recruitment agencies and financing agencies.
Next year, the International Labour Organization (ILO) is set to discuss and come up with an international convention that will supposedly recognize domestic work as work. While such a labour convention can set the guidelines for the rights of domestic workers, policies that violate our rights abound despite the existence already of many other international standards. For example, despite the challenge posed by the Committee for the Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) on the Two-Week Rule, the Hong Kong government has refused to even review the discriminatory provisions of said rule.
In these times of even more severe economic, political and social crisis in the world, attacks on the rights of workers are even more intensified and Hong Kong is no exception. While the people of Hong Kong suffer from the global financial collapse, bailout packages are given to businesses while the people are left to fend for ourselves.
The working people must together resist violations of our labour rights. While imperialists and the Hong Kong government strive to drive a division between local and migrant workers, we must bear in mind that the significance of the May Day is that it is the concrete expression of the struggle of all workers as a class against oppression and exploitation of the ruling classes.
밯orkers of the world, unite� is not a mere slogan. It is the weapon of the working class and other oppressed people to liberate ourselves from all forms of exploitation and reaction.
Long live the workers!
Include FDWs in the statutory minimum wage!
Lift the ban on Nepali workers!
Scrap the Two-Week Rule!
Recognize domestic work as work!
Long live worker뭩 and people뭩 solidarity!
Resist attacks against rights of all workers
Statement of the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body on the Occasion of the International Labour Day 2010
It is in our organized strength that the working class shall free ourselves from exploitation and oppression. Such was the lesson of the first May Day and such is the lesson that we must continue to uphold.
The issues of labour continue to be essentially the same from the first protests of workers for an 8-hour workday to the current struggles of workers to defeat monopoly capitalism and establish a society where labour is not exploited for the gains of only a few.
The situation of migrant workers in Hong Kong, especially the domestic workers, shows the slave-like condition of workers that started the May First actions.
Foreign domestic workers are still not included in the statutory minimum wage being discussed in the Legislative Council or LegCo. The Executive Committee (ExCo) just gave false hopes to FDW organizations with calls for position papers or dialogues but at the end of it when it finally mattered, they submitted the SMW proposal that excluded FDWs.
Such is an insult to FDWs. Such tramples on the value of domestic workers as part of the working people of Hong Kong.
The government of Hong Kong has always violated the rights of migrant workers especially when the interests of businesses � directly or indirectly � are threatened. On the issue of our wage, it is always kept depressed in order to prevent the protests that may arise from the locals whose own wage is always kept in check in favor of the interests of profit of the capitalists.
While our inclusion to the SMW remains a topmost concern, we must also not forget our standing issues that keep us as the modern-slaves of Hong Kong. These include the mandatory live in arrangement that makes us work for inhuman hours, the ban on Nepali migrant workers, and the New Conditions of Stay or Two-Week Rule that keeps us vulnerable to many abuses by unscrupulous employers, recruitment agencies and financing agencies.
Next year, the International Labour Organization (ILO) is set to discuss and come up with an international convention that will supposedly recognize domestic work as work. While such a labour convention can set the guidelines for the rights of domestic workers, policies that violate our rights abound despite the existence already of many other international standards. For example, despite the challenge posed by the Committee for the Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) on the Two-Week Rule, the Hong Kong government has refused to even review the discriminatory provisions of said rule.
In these times of even more severe economic, political and social crisis in the world, attacks on the rights of workers are even more intensified and Hong Kong is no exception. While the people of Hong Kong suffer from the global financial collapse, bailout packages are given to businesses while the people are left to fend for ourselves.
The working people must together resist violations of our labour rights. While imperialists and the Hong Kong government strive to drive a division between local and migrant workers, we must bear in mind that the significance of the May Day is that it is the concrete expression of the struggle of all workers as a class against oppression and exploitation of the ruling classes.
밯orkers of the world, unite� is not a mere slogan. It is the weapon of the working class and other oppressed people to liberate ourselves from all forms of exploitation and reaction.
Long live the workers!
Include FDWs in the statutory minimum wage!
Lift the ban on Nepali workers!
Scrap the Two-Week Rule!
Recognize domestic work as work!
Long live worker뭩 and people뭩 solidarity!
