21.02.2012
Asia debates more rights for domestic workers
Filipina Teresita Herrera Blanco has worked in Hong Kong for more than 16 years, cooking, cleaning and babysitting as a domestic helper for a local family. She says her employers treat her well but should they decide they no longer need her, she would have just two weeks to find another job or she must return to the Philippines.
Unlike Hong Kong’s expatriate bankers, lawyers and teachers, who can apply for permanent residency after seven years, maids aren’t eligible to apply for the right of abode, no matter how long they have worked in the city.