Serious 60% of the Maids In HK Have No Proper Place To Sleep!

KUALA LUMPUR (REUTERS) - Domestic workers in Hong Kong are being forced to sleep in toilets, tiny cubbyholes, and on balconies, activists found in an investigation that uncovered the "appalling" living conditions of maids in the wealthy financial hub.

In the city that employs 350,000 maids, mostly from the Philippines and Indonesia, three out of five domestic workers are made to live in unsuitable accommodation that sometimes threatens their health and safety, said rights group Mission for Migrant Wokers (MFMW).

In a survey of 3,000 maids, MFMW found 43 per cent of the respondents said they do not have their own room and were asked to sleep in places including storage rooms, kitchens, toilets, basements, closets and on balconies.


Photos collected from the domestic helpers showed shocking examples. In one case, a domestic worker was made to sleep in a cubbyhole above the refrigerator and microwave oven. Another was forced to sleep in a cubbyhole over a shower.


Another helper slept in a tiny, 1.2-metre-high room built on a balcony, next to the laundry area.

"It is appalling we are allowed to do this to a domestic worker. This is modern-day slavery," lead researcher Norman Uy Carnay told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "Most of this accommodation doesn't even approach basic human decency. Hong Kong is a world-class city, it shames Hong Kong to have this kind of treatment of its migrant domestic workers."


Carnay said maids should be given suitable accommodation even if they are in space-scarce Hong Kong, where sky-high property prices make housing unaffordable for many of the city's 7 million residents.

In an e-mail to the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Hong Kong's Labour Department urged maids to lodge complaints and said employers can face action if they fail to provide suitable accommodation.

Asked whether sleeping in kitchens or toilets is acceptable, the department said it was "not feasible" to define what is suitable accommodation.

Of the 57 per cent of domestic workers surveyed with their own room, one-third said their quarters also doubles as a storage area, space for laundry, a study or a room for pets, MFMW said.

Fourteen per cent of the 3,000 polled said they have no ready access to toilets.

Domestic helpers said they had no choice but to accept the conditions. "We agree because we need to earn money. If we disagree, of course, we're sent to the agency or we're sent to go back home, right?" one unidentified maid was quoted by MFMW as saying.

Carnay urged Hong Kong to outlaw unsuitable accommodation and abolish rules that make it mandatory for maids to live with their employers.

At present, the rules only say employers must not force maids to sleep on beds in the corridor with little privacy, or to share a room with an adult of the opposite sex.

Although domestic workers generally have better protection in Hong Kong than in other parts of Asia, mistreatment in the city has come under scrutiny since the 2014 case of Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, an Indonesian maid beaten by her employer and burned with boiling water.

http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/ea...-forced-to-sleep-in-toilets-cubbyholes-survey

Does Hong Kong have a maid problem?over reliance on maids?

Have seen some pictures of where Hongkies live. It seem that space is a premium in Hong Kong.

Unfortunately the PAP wants to build smaller units in Spore to pack in more foreigners into Spore.

johnny333 said:

Have seen some pictures of where Hongkies live. It seem that space is a premium in Hong Kong.

Unfortunately the PAP wants to build smaller units in Spore to pack in more foreigners into Spore.

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sinkies who cannot afford a larger home should not have maids nor house their maids in a tiny corner of their pathetic holes without privacy. smaller units for these sinkies is the right thing to do in order to deter them from having maids. you should thank the pap instead.

eatshitndie said:

sinkies who cannot afford a larger home should not have maids nor house their maids in a tiny corner of their pathetic holes without privacy. smaller units for these sinkies is the right thing to do in order to deter them from having maids. you should thank the pap instead.

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Are you crazy or something who is going to look after their parents, kids & do the housework when they are out working the long hours expected of Sporeans?

johnny333 said:

Are you crazy or something who is going to look after their parents, kids & do the housework when they are out working the long hours expected of Sporeans?

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Johnny333, this is why I say that the maid policy was the start of all the social ills in Singapore. If not for the maid policy, parents would all be home for dinner as they have to look after their kids. No such thing as work until 10pm. But because of the maid, it started that bosses would arrange for 7pm meetings. Workers who said they have to go home for their kids would be told...."why don't you get a maid?"

So end up become NORMAL to have 10pm meetings. Work late into the night. Maid takes care of kids and the house.

It is an excuse to place work and earning money above the family. These are the values Singaporeans now have. The duties to take care of parents is also passed to the maid.

Maid policy facilitates this because the labor is very cheap relatively. Imagine trying to do the same in a true first world society. Most would not be able to afford it.

I have heard the excuse you gave above many times from sinkies. It is....but an excuse.

We survived without a maid in Singapore with kids for 9 years. We had the help of our parents and also sent the kids to childcare. We did our own housework. Flats are small so cleaning a small living space doesn't take that much time. Same goes for washing 2 toilets.

To say that one "cannot survive" without a maid is absurd.

Johnny333, you seem to me to be a retiree. Do you have a maid?

What's the point of this article? Sinkies also have no proper place to sleep. Have to share their already small flats with so many people, and smelly boarders etc.

Papsmearer said:

What's the point of this article? Sinkies also have no proper place to sleep. Have to share their already small flats with so many people, and smelly boarders etc.

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"SINGAPORE - Private residential properties may be rented out to no more than six unrelated persons from Monday (May 15), according to a letter sent out to real estate agencies by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Thursday (May 11).

The current cap is eight unrelated persons.

Existing tenancy agreements with seven or eight tenants will be allowed to run their course until May 15, 2019.


The new occupancy cap will apply after that regardless of whether the tenancy agreement expires after the implementation date, the letter stated.

The letter added that landlords must comply to the new rules or may be subjected to investigations.

The changes were passed in Parliament as part of the Planning (Amendment) Bill in February.


Previous reports have said apartments that are rented to more than six unrelated tenants will be treated as dormitories and would require URA's approval.

This new rule is likely to significantly affect small and medium enterprises that rent out entire apartments for their S pass or work permit holders, said International Property Advisor chief executive Ku Swee Yong.

Some businesses, especially restaurants or those who need shift workers, lease condo apartments near the workplace for their staff.

Said Mr Ku: "To rent another apartment to house their eight workers, instead of renting an old terrace house, they will now have to rent two apartments. The cost is increased."

The new rule will also affect home-sharing in future, such as AirBnb. While illegal now, URA is studying the option of creating a new category of private homes that will allow short-term rentals.

An occupancy cap of six means future home-sharing hosts will not be able to lease out an apartment to, say, two large families, said Mr Ku.

For Housing Board flats, the maximum number of subtenants allowed for a three-room unit and a four-room or bigger unit is six and nine respectively."


I thought private properties got no restrictions on how one wants to rent out etc? That's what makes it a much better investment than HDB flats?

johnny333 said:

Are you crazy or something who is going to look after their parents, kids & do the housework when they are out working the long hours expected of Sporeans?

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why long hours? if sinkies cannot complete their work within 6.9 hours per workday excluding chope table and lunch, they must be skiving at their jobs surfing porn and sexting with their colleagues and strangers. anything over 6.9 hours of actual work per workday is unproductive.

nayr69sg said:

Johnny333, this is why I say that the maid policy was the start of all the social ills in Singapore. If not for the maid policy, parents would all be home for dinner as they have to look after their kids. No such thing as work until 10pm. But because of the maid, it started that bosses would arrange for 7pm meetings. Workers who said they have to go home for their kids would be told...."why don't you get a maid?"

So end up become NORMAL to have 10pm meetings. Work late into the night. Maid takes care of kids and the house.

It is an excuse to place work and earning money above the family. These are the values Singaporeans now have. The duties to take care of parents is also passed to the maid.

Maid policy facilitates this because the labor is very cheap relatively. Imagine trying to do the same in a true first world society. Most would not be able to afford it.

I have heard the excuse you gave above many times from sinkies. It is....but an excuse.

We survived without a maid in Singapore with kids for 9 years. We had the help of our parents and also sent the kids to childcare. We did our own housework. Flats are small so cleaning a small living space doesn't take that much time. Same goes for washing 2 toilets.

To say that one "cannot survive" without a maid is absurd.

Johnny333, you seem to me to be a retiree. Do you have a maid?

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if dont work sixty hours a week how to attain swiss standard of living?u tell me lah!?

anyway the maid's pay is only $450 a month,real estate is too expensive to waste on their ass.likewise if a sinkie is earning less than $700 income,do u think they will be wasting their money on rent?most likely they be sleeping at void deck or east coast park.

Ah J Tan you shld drive dwn to West Coast beach front after midnight and see homeless Sinkies Familess sleeping on lorries, you worry abt HK maids.

nayr69sg said:

"SINGAPORE - Private residential properties may be rented out to no more than six unrelated persons from Monday (May 15), according to a letter sent out to real estate agencies by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Thursday (May 11).

The current cap is eight unrelated persons.

Existing tenancy agreements with seven or eight tenants will be allowed to run their course until May 15, 2019.


The new occupancy cap will apply after that regardless of whether the tenancy agreement expires after the implementation date, the letter stated.

The letter added that landlords must comply to the new rules or may be subjected to investigations.

The changes were passed in Parliament as part of the Planning (Amendment) Bill in February.


Previous reports have said apartments that are rented to more than six unrelated tenants will be treated as dormitories and would require URA's approval.

This new rule is likely to significantly affect small and medium enterprises that rent out entire apartments for their S pass or work permit holders, said International Property Advisor chief executive Ku Swee Yong.

Some businesses, especially restaurants or those who need shift workers, lease condo apartments near the workplace for their staff.

Said Mr Ku: "To rent another apartment to house their eight workers, instead of renting an old terrace house, they will now have to rent two apartments. The cost is increased."

The new rule will also affect home-sharing in future, such as AirBnb. While illegal now, URA is studying the option of creating a new category of private homes that will allow short-term rentals.

An occupancy cap of six means future home-sharing hosts will not be able to lease out an apartment to, say, two large families, said Mr Ku.

For Housing Board flats, the maximum number of subtenants allowed for a three-room unit and a four-room or bigger unit is six and nine respectively."


I thought private properties got no restrictions on how one wants to rent out etc? That's what makes it a much better investment than HDB flats?

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Why is the good PAP government trying to fuck good landlords like myself? I pay lots of taxes you know.

JohnTan said:

Why is the good PAP government trying to fuck good landlords like myself? I pay lots of taxes you know.

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Lots? I thought Singapore has one of the lowest taxes in the world? That's why Jim Rogers (is he still there) goes to Singapore, that co-founder of Facebook also go Singapore. How much tax they pay. Hmm maybe zero.

JohnTan I think you need to hire an accountant help you save on taxes. You shouldn't be paying any taxes at all living in Singapore!

Otherwise might as well move somewhere else right?

frenchbriefs said:

if dont work sixty hours a week how to attain swiss standard of living?u tell me lah!?

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talk cock lah. i deal with sinkie workers at warehouse i know. cum to work at 9:09am but clock in at 8am. uncrate from fully loaded factory delivery rig and stack goods only require 69 minutes as there are enough workers uncrating and stacking. packing and crating for delivery to retail warehouses for several customers only take up another 69 minutes. same workers drive trucks loaded with recrated goods for delivery. after delivery, they have rest of day off but they clock until 5pm. some ask for overtime as they keep forgetting to bring invoice slips (sg still stuck with paperwork) as customers demand matching slips (invoice and packing) upon receiving. so they get stuck at retail warehouse waiting for office staff to drive over with invoice slips. office staff now waste at least 2 hours in roundtrip traffic plus parking plus kopi break plus personal errands before returning to office. when they return to office they chobolan, talk cock sing song ready to go home but clock extra 2 hours. meanwhile, salespersons don't need to cum to office as they work with customers on inventory, shelving, quality control, marketing, promotions, etc., at retail sites. but do they really show up and work their arses off at various sites? can't tell as there are no supervisors to go around to check on them. they are on their own, and the honesty-rule is used. they always kpkb that they work 69 hours a week. i keep asking top towkay to issue them company iphones and work app to keep track of all workers. but tua towkay declines citing smartphones and apps too complicated to use. while workers chobolan, tcss most of the time, and lim kopi while out, towkay of company works like shit to get paperwork ready for next day's shipment as p.o.'s arrive by email after 5pm. so i ask towkay to install wi-fi at home in order for orders to be processed at home as biz is good and orders will require at least another 6.9 hours to process and clear (by 1 person - towkay). with help by co-towkay at home, order processing is halved to 3.45 hours. this allows co-towkay to cook dinner, mop floor, clean house, process orders with company laptop, watch tv, have dinner, and sleep by 11pm. cycle continues at 6am in the morning when both towkays drive to office and warehouse to print invoices and packing slips to get ready for warehouse/delivery workers to show up. foreign workers show up sharp at 7am ready to roll as they rent near warehouse. sinkie workers still drinking kopi at their favorite kopitiam and taking sweet time to cum to work. company start to provide both breakfast and lunch by running errands to ta pau from food courts, but office and salespersons prefer to chope tables and enjoy their makan sessions outside citing freshly cooked and served food as reason. very picky about their makan too. foreign workers stay back and eat. you see, no need maids at home.

Wah lau eatshitndie you really typed all of the above? So hardworking....

nayr69sg said:

Johnny333, this is why I say that the maid policy was the start of all the social ills in Singapore. If not for the maid policy, parents would all be home for dinner as they have to look after their kids. No such thing as work until 10pm. But because of the maid, it started that bosses would arrange for 7pm meetings. Workers who said they have to go home for their kids would be told...."why don't you get a maid?"

So end up become NORMAL to have 10pm meetings. Work late into the night. Maid takes care of kids and the house.

It is an excuse to place work and earning money above the family. These are the values Singaporeans now have. The duties to take care of parents is also passed to the maid.

Maid policy facilitates this because the labor is very cheap relatively. Imagine trying to do the same in a true first world society. Most would not be able to afford it.

I have heard the excuse you gave above many times from sinkies. It is....but an excuse.

We survived without a maid in Singapore with kids for 9 years. We had the help of our parents and also sent the kids to childcare. We did our own housework. Flats are small so cleaning a small living space doesn't take that much time. Same goes for washing 2 toilets.

To say that one "cannot survive" without a maid is absurd.

Johnny333, you seem to me to be a retiree. Do you have a maid?

Click to expand...

Don't have a maid because I don't want to pay the PAP $400/month & have to force the maid to have a pregnancy test every 6 months. I don't think I could pass their silly requirements anyway, an online course on how to look after a maid & the means test which you have to earn a certain monthly salary.

Nothing happens in Spore without the hand of the PAP. They saw a money making opportunity & wanted the working units of Spore to slave away. Must give credit to LKY for starting the latch key generation.

I remember the old days when many Sporeans had their own small businesses & lived on the premises of their businesses. Then the PAP gov't started zoning & other kinds of regulations to make it hard to run small businesses. I read that it was illegal for young people to be hawkers They had to work in the industries where I heard that LKY was getting a cut from the MNCs.

As the PAP would say what's wrong with collecting more money. They & their friends started the lucrative maid indusrty, worker levy, medical check up requirements,... etc.

Until you have what exists in Spore today. Many dysfunctional families creating the next generation of screwed up families.

eatshitndie said:

why long hours? if sinkies cannot complete their work within 6.9 hours per workday excluding chope table and lunch, they must be skiving at their jobs surfing porn and sexting with their colleagues and strangers. anything over 6.9 hours of actual work per workday is unproductive.

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You forgetting who Sporeans are really working for. Why do you think the PAP can afford to pay themselves multi-million dollar salaries?

nayr69sg said:

Wah lau eatshitndie you really typed all of the above? So hardworking....

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unlike you, i have no patient to see. just jaga an empty warehouse. for you you must multitask briskly between patients to post. for me too much idle time shake leg whack mosquitoes.

Papsmearer said:

What's the point of this article? Sinkies also have no proper place to sleep. Have to share their already small flats with so many people, and smelly boarders etc.

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according to Jo Teo one does not need much space to fuck ie can do standing............ wud it not follow that you can oso sleep standing?