Reviewed by Isabel T. Escoda
Jim Rice, an American law professor at Lingnan University in Hong Kong, has written Take Your Rights Seriously (Corporate Communications Ltd, 2006, Hong Kong, 132 pages), a book addressing the full-sweep of working arrangements between migrant workers and their Hong Kong employers.
Too many of the thorny migrant-employer problems have been ignored or swept under the carpet by Hong Kong society and its government. Rice’s book informs the migrant workers of their rights and duties, and should be obligatory reading for their employers too.
In concise language, Rice spells out the workers’ myriad problems and ways to cope with them. He has wise advice for the women facing situations like overwork, intimidation and racist abuse.
The author warns against people who prey on job seekers and fleece workers: “In dealings with people with the power to affect your life (employment agencies, loan companies, government officials and employers), your own best interests are very different from theirs’. Get as much information as possible and… use (it) to your greatest advantage. Employment agencies and loan companies want your money…. What employers want is to get as much work as they possibly can for as little money as possible. That’s why they hire workers from countries poorer than Hong Kong. (Those) labor costs are considerably cheaper than local workers.”
Rice, who once assisted the late activist Pam Baker’s work among refugees, highlights the racial discrimination practised by the Hong Kong government. For example, migrant workers are denied the privilege granted to other nationalities of gaining residency after staying seven years.
Take Your Rights Seriously received financial support from American businesswoman Christine Houston, who has championed the domestics’ cause in Hong Kong. Public relations man Ted Thomas, another longtime advocate for domestics, published the book.
The hope is that Hong Kong, which calls itself a World City, will do the right thing for migrant workers whose immense contribution too often goes unacknowledged and unappreciated.
Ideally, Take Your Rights Seriously also should circulate in other jurisdictions where migrant workers toil.
(October 8, 2006)
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