Around 1,000 aspiring female migrant workers have registered at a job fair held in the capital for recruiting domestic maids to work in Hong Kong.
A private recruitment agency in Bangladesh, SA Trading, and Hong Kong-based recruitment agency, Technical Employment Service Centre (TESC), jointly organised the two-day fair that ended yesterday at Probashi Kalyan Bhaban.
Officials said a female migrant would be able to earn a handsome amount of money in Hong Kong to help pull her family out of poverty.
They added that it was possible for a maid to earn as much as Tk41, 000 per month while she would enjoy free food and accommodation.
TESC’s Kevin Wong claimed that over 100 female migrants had gone to Hong Kong to work as maids and were doing well. He displayed some pictures of Bangladeshi maids performing their duties in Hong Kong houses.
However, a number have returned home from the country and lodged complaints with the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), saying they were forced to work unpaid overtime and were not given enough food.
About such allegations, Kevin said some agencies had experienced such incidents, but not his. He admitted though that TESC hired 10 female migrants who were terminated from jobs, but arranged their employment later.
Hailing from Rangpur, Reshma registered at the job fair yesterday with a view to going to Hong Kong to make more money to pull her family out of abject poverty.
“I am depressed. My family is very poor. Going to Hong Kong, I want to earn money so that I can run my family well enough,” Reshma told the Dhaka Tribune at the fair yesterday.
The Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry officials termed the fair a good initiative which would help the female migrants learn where they would go and who to hire them, adding that there was no role of middlemen in this regard.
Md Washim, an office staff of SA Trading, said registered migrants must attend three months of training on their likely responsibilities as housemaids, as well as on the language, culture and food habits of people in Hong Kong.
The selected migrants would be provided training free of cost, he added.
Washim added that a migrant needed to pay Tk20,000 to a local agency while a Hong Kong-based agency took $1,400 from a migrant.
Around 600 migrants registered at the job fair Saturday and 400 yesterday, he added.
