Labour groups demand minimum wage hike, higher food allowance for migrant domestic workers

Labour groups have urged Hong Kong authorities to raise the minimum wage for migrant domestic workers, increase the food allowance and require employers to provide fans or air conditioning.

Migrant domestic workers on their day off in Hong Kong, on November 5, 2023. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

The Hong Kong Federation of Asian Domestic Workers Unions (FADWU) and the Asian Migrant Coordinating Body (AMCB) issued their demands separately on Sunday after attending a consultation meeting with the Labour Department.

FADWU said that the minimum wage for migrant domestic workers should rise by 30 per cent, from the current HK$5,100 to HK$6,670, to account for past salary cuts and inflation.

Hong Kong froze the minimum wage for migrant domestic workers for several years in the first decade since the 1997 Handover, and cut the wage twice in 1999 and 2003 amid economic downturns.

FADWU “concluded that these real wage reductions were substantial,” the union said in a statement, issued after it attended a consultation meeting with the Labour Department.

It also called on the government to raise the food allowance to at least HK$2,770 per month after referencing the Department of Health’s standards for adults’ basic nutritional needs and food consumption levels.

The Hong Kong Federation of Asian Domestic Workers Unions (FADWU) urges Hong Kong authorities to raise the mininum wage for migrant domestic workers to HK$6,670 on July 5, 2026. Photo: FADWU, via Facebook.

Currently, if an employer does not provide free meals to their migrant worker, they must pay a monthly food allowance of HK$1,236, or roughly HK$40 per day.

According to FADWU, the current amount “barely covers one instant noodle with a few stalks of choy sum, or two slices of bread with an egg and instant coffee.”

Furthermore, amid climate change, the government should establish guidelines for migrant domestic workers to work in high temperatures and update the standard work contract to specify that “humane” ventilation must be provided, the union added.

The current standard contract only states that an employer should provide “suitable accommodation… with reasonable privacy.”

“We have workers whose rooms have no windows, no fans,” FADWU said.

“The government should revise the standard contract to state clearly that, in addition to adequate lighting, workers’ accommodation must also include proper ventilation and the provision of fans or air-conditioning facilities.”

The Asian Migrant Coordinating Body (AMCB) attends a consultation meeting with the Labour Department on July 5, 2026. Photo: Asian Migrants Coordinating Body – IMA HKM, via Facebook.

Meanwhile, the AMCB urged the government to raise the monthly minimum wage for migrant domestic workers by 21 per cent to HK$6,172 – a living wage – and raise the food allowance to HK$3,123 per month.

In a statement outlining a wide range of demands, the AMCB also called for legislating working hours for domestic workers, scrapping the mandatory live-in requirement, and allowing them to live outside their employers’ homes.