The Macau Federation of Trade Unions, Macau Construction Industry General Union and four legislators petitioned the Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL) about local workers’ rights protection yesterday.
The federation is widely known as Gung Luen, its name in Cantonese. The Macau Construction Industry General Union is a member of the federation.
Legislator-cum-unionist Lei Cheng I told reporters after a closed-door meeting with the bureau yesterday that they made four suggestions during the meeting on how to better protect local workers’ rights.
Firstly, Lei said, the bureau should prioritise employment for locals. She added that the bureau should organise job matchings for locals and monitor companies to ensure they do not hire “too many” non-local workers.
Secondly, Lei said, the Macau Federation of Trade Unions wants the bureau “to urge the government to prioritise hiring local workers for public construction projects.”
Thirdly, she said, the bureau should investigate companies that were found to have hired illegal workers (known in colloquial Cantonese as “black labour”).
Fourthly, she said, the bureau should strengthen vocational training and diversify the types of training courses.
Macau Federation of Trade Unions Vice-President Tang Kam Chan told reporters that a large number of workers lost their jobs after Chinese New Year. He said that when they applied for another job, some contractors tried to lower their monthly or daily salary by 30 to 40 percent.
Tang pointed out that most of the unemployed construction workers were laid off because their projects were finished and the contractors claimed that there were no more jobs for them. Tang said that many workers told his union they knew the contractors were working on other construction projects for which they preferred to hire non-local workers.
Fellow legislator-cum-unionist Leong Sun Iok told reporters that other than construction workers, workers from the retail and gaming industries had also been laid off “for no reason”.
Leong noted that the vocational training courses that the bureau offers are always fully booked due to their low number of places. He added that the bureau does not offer training for workers from the gaming industry, pointing out that there are workers from other sectors that are also keen to improve their professional knowledge.
A DSAL statement yesterday noted that last Monday 465 local construction workers registered for unemployment. The statement pointed out that among them around 310 have already been arranged for job matchings, adding that 194 workers have already attended a job interview, 79 of whom have meanwhile been hired.
The statement said that the other workers did not attend job interviews because they did not have the required skills set for the job, or simply refused to attend an interview. The statement also pointed out that the bureau has not been able to contact some of the workers.
The statement also noted that this week, the bureau arranged interviews for 81 workers involving 53 vacancies. The bureau said that it will continue to pay close attention to job opportunities for the unemployed workers.
DSAL Vice Director Chan Un Tong also spoke to the media after the closed-door meeting. Chan said that during the novel coronavirus pandemic, there are sectors that have “adjusted” their pay, adding that it is up to workers whether they accept the job offer or not.
There are currently 27,000 non-local construction workers in Macau, and this year the government is planning to invest 18 billion patacas in construction projects, according to previous media reports.
When asked by reporters why there are still over 1,000 unemployed local construction workers, Chan said if a company has a vacancy that both a local worker and a non-resident worker have the skills for, the company must hire the local worker. He added that if the company decides to keep the non-resident worker yet fires the local worker, it would violate local labour legislation.
Chan stressed that if such a situation happens, the bureau has the right to cancel the company’s quota to hire non-resident workers.
Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL) Vice Director Chan Un Tong (front) talks to reporters after the closed-door meeting about unemployment affecting local workers with unionists and legislators at the bureau’s office yesterday. Photo: Prisca Tang
