Jacky Cheung Blacklisted for 21 Filipino Maids

[kidd]

Jacky Cheung Blacklisted for 21 Filipino Maids
2007-09-28 12:41:57 Shenzhen Daily

Hong Kong singer Jacky Cheung has been barred by Filipino officials from hiring any more maids from the Philippines after he fired too many them in recent years.

A Filipino activist Wednesday questioned Cheung's employment practices and criticized the Philippine consulate, which must certify all Filipino maid contracts in Hong Kong, for not acting sooner to blacklist the singer.

The Filipino Globe newspaper — published for Hong Kong's community of Filipino workers — reported the unusually high maid turnover at Cheung's household in its September edition, citing local consular records.

The report said only a few of the 21 maids Cheung hired over three years completed their two-year contracts.

The newspaper said Cheung's wife, former actress May Lo, met with Consul General Alejandrino Vicente but failed to appeal the blacklisting, which prevents the Cheung household from renewing the contracts of their current four Filipino maids when their contracts expire.

Hong Kong's Apple Daily newspaper reported Wednesday that Cheung and Lo live with their two daughters in a more than 270-square-meter apartment.

"We told them we're sorry, but given their record, this is our policy and it's best we keep it that way," the Filipino Globe quoted Vicente as saying.

Vicente also reportedly told Lo that she threatens the livelihoods of her maids by firing them quickly.

"We also explained to her that when you terminate a contract, it's not just the person who suffers. Her family back home also suffers. She may have gone into debt just to raise the money needed to come here and she expects to earn enough money to pay it back," the official reportedly said.

News of Cheung's blacklisting came after one of his former maids, Preslyn-saga Catacutan, was sentenced in December to six months in jail for stealing a letter and three photos from her employer, a sentence maid organizers criticized as harsh at the time. Local media had reported that Cheung testified against the maid in that case.

Eman Villanueva, deputy secretary-general of the Filipino Migrant Workers' Union, said Wednesday Catacutan has since appealed and had her sentence halved.

Consul General Vicente was quoted as saying in the Filipino Globe that Cheung's blacklisting wasn't payback for the Catacutan case.

Villanueva said the consulate general should have acted sooner against Cheung.

Source: http://english.cri.cn/3086/2007/09/28/[email protected]

What do you think of this incident? Is 21 maids in 3 years an unusually large number or it's quite normal? Do you think the Cheung family is just unlucky to get bad maids all the time or they are too picky?

[kidd]

Hong Kong singer Jacky Cheung defends Filipino maid firings

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS September 28, 2007

HONG KONG - Hong Kong singer Jacky Cheung defended himself against suggestions he frequently fired and hired Filipino maids, saying he was just an "ordinary employer," a newspaper reported Friday.

His comments came after the Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong put Cheung and his wife - former actress May Lo - on a blacklist of substandard employers.

The Filipino Globe newspaper, published for Hong Kong's Filipino community, earlier reported only a few of the 21 maids that Cheung hired over the past three years completed their two-year contracts.

The pop singer, who's on a concert tour in China's Zhejiang province, could not recall the number of domestic helpers his family had hired and sacked, the South China Morning Post reported.

"An employer can fire an employee if he or she fails to perform, whilst an employee can also resign if he or she is not happy about the employer," Cheung was quoted as saying.

"Is there anything wrong if we fire a maid when we find out that she is not helpful?" he said. "I consider myself an ordinary employer. Many of my friends terminate their maids' contract and I believe it is normal in any employment."

Cheung also said he rehired some of the Filipino maids when their contracts expired. Others resigned on the first day after seeing there were so many stairs at his four-storey house, he told the paper.

One of his former maids, Preslyn-saga Catacutan, was sentenced in December to six months in jail for stealing a letter and three photos from her employer. Local media reported that Cheung testified against her. Maid organizers criticized the sentence as too harsh at the time.

Eman Villanueva, deputy secretary-general of the Filipino Migrant Workers' Union, said Catacutan has since appealed and had her sentence cut in half.

Tens of thousands of Filipinos work as maids in wealthy Hong Kong. Smaller numbers come from Indonesia, Thailand and Nepal.

Source: http://tv.yahoo.com/news/article/urn...20068016__ER:1

[PJ]

"Is there anything wrong if we fire a maid when we find out that she is not helpful?" he said. "I consider myself an ordinary employer. Many of my friends terminate their maids' contract and I believe it is normal in any employment."

LOL, who knew that a pop singer engaging in an act of EFOM: Excessive Firing Of Maids, would make international news.

[flyingfox2002]

They are picky, huh?

I don't like bosses like that.

[annaaa]

oh wow. thats kinda picky, no?
but one of them got a prison sentence, and some resigned on the first day!

[Ian Liew]

I'd fire my Filipino maid if it didn't take 3 months for a replacement maid. Bloody agencies lie about maid abilities. Mine was expensive because the agency said that maids from this particular area are better, more professional, speak English and have better experience. We went ahead and paid the premium price, and waited 3 months, and finally she came.

She can't boil rice, has no idea how to cut fruits, can't speak coherent English and has no initiative whatsoever. We need her to look after the toddler, and she has no ability to entertain the kid - the kid speaks to her (albeit in babytalk) more than she speaks to him.

When we asked her, she said she had never spoken English in her 6 years working as a secretary, and has no experience as a maid. She never told the agency she was fluent in English, and never applied to be a maid in the first place. She wanted a seamstress job. When asked if she knew she was coming to be a maid when we applied for her to come down, she said no, she thought even maids had sewing work to do, and never expected to have to do sweeping, cooking, washing, babysitting etc... When cornered she says "I'm willing to learn".. guess who suffers during this perpetual learning process?

If, like Jacky Cheung, I could bully the damned agencies and get a replacement maid at short notice, I'd fire my maid too. Some of us mere mortals have to live with them, though. Like my wife always says "Don't be too upset. If they were intelligent they wouldn't be maids." Don't blame the maids, blame the agencies.

[PJ]

Sorry to hear that, Ian. Are there any old Asian parents available to babysit locally?

[Ian Liew]

Sorry to hear that, Ian. Are there any old Asian parents available to babysit locally?

None who will come to your house. Quite a few take you child for daycare (or weekcare, if you only want to take your child back on weekends) but it's not quite what we need. We have the kid at home, just need somebody to keep him company while I'm at work and mom wants a rest.

The Filipino will be fine - it's just very tedious for mummy in the meantime while she learns oh-so-slowly. I can escape to office during weekdays anyway.

[PJ]

None who will come to your house.

Interesting. May I inquire about your location? Here in Indianapolis, although the demand for stay-at-your-home nannies is high, most families that I know have secured one such nanny for their baby. There seem to be a good number of Chinese parents here.

[Ian Liew]

Interesting. May I inquire about your location? Here in Indianapolis, although the demand for stay-at-your-home nannies is high, most families that I know have secured one such nanny for their baby. There seem to be a good number of Chinese parents here.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Stay-at-home nannies are almost impossible to find.

[flyingfox2002]

Interesting. I suppose no one grew up with a dream of becoming a maid. People are forced into being maids when they can't succeed at other things.