Bad employment agencies: Just the same as illegal recruiters

I took dinner at Yoshinoya in Central with my girlfriend last night. It is common in Hong Kong to share table with strangers. Naturally, we hear their conversations and mostly for Filipinos, we started befriending some of them and they started sharing their lives.

We came across four women, relatively new in Hong Kong, who told us about the fate they are undergoing at the moment. In search for a better life in the Philippines, they chose to try going to Hong Kong working as domestic helpers. They applied at a certain Good Day Recruitment agency which has ties with Success Employment Agency in Hong Kong.

Perhaps due to lack of understanding or got attracted by the deceiving promotional offers by Good Day, these four women tried their luck and filed their applications for domestic helper jobs in Hong Kong. While the application process appeared to run smoothly, the agency started to charge exorbitant fees. I was told that Good Day had charged 30,000 pesos (about HK$5,200) simply for the mandatory training required by the government (I know that the government is partly to be blamed here). The agency did not issue a receipt for this payment.

I was told that the placement fee was 100,000 pesos (HK$17,500). When one of them was ready to give up because of the high fee, she was told that an employer was already paired to her and she must not give up her application. She was also asked to make a loan so she can pay for that 100K charge. Unknown to her, many other women fall prey to this modus operandi.

Now employed in Hong Kong, Success Employment Agency allegedly charged them a certain amount of money. Upon realizing that one of the helpers was unwilling to pay for that amount, one staff threatened her that the agency will send a staff and a policeman to her house if she continues to renege an earlier agreement signed by her. Of course it's not possible to bring policeman when you are seeking a loan payment. The agency probably told the employer and in turn this employer threatened to terminate the domestic helper's employment for failing to pay her dues. Maybe the employer just wanted to get rid of the pesky agency staff and turned his/her attention to the poor maid.

This group of women sought the help of both OWWA (Overseas Workers Welfare Administration) and Migrante for assistance on their case. While OWWA insists that they pay their dues, Migrante told them not to do so.

Now, the four of them are still unable to make their remittances to their family six months since starting their job in Hong Kong. They succeeded in finding employment abroad yet their debts ballooned not because they wanted to but because of other people taking advantage of their ignorance. The good news is that a Filipina domestic helper is still a sought-after employee in Hong Kong. The bad news is that because of the demand for their service, they are targets of abuse and money-making schemes by a few bad agencies.

How can employment agencies like this ever exist making money out of poor families, who resort to selling possessions and borrowing money just for them to get a job abroad, a job that many will look down on them. Can the families of these agency shops afford to live in decent dwellings, travel abroad or eat delicious food knowing that part of the money they are spending comes from overcharging job applicants? Where is the conscience? And if this practice is well-documented, is the Philippine or HK government have their hands tied because the law doesn't cover this problem? Or is it just because these women are "mere domestic helpers" and can be a bottom priority?

Help must be extended to these poor working women.

Add to: del.icio.us | Digg