The Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL) said in a statement yesterday in response to an incident in which more than 200 non-resident workers (NRWs) went to a construction site in Coloane to demand their employer pay their mainland quarantine expenses, adding that DSAL officials were sent to the scene to look into the dispute.
According to local Chinese-language media, a number of the NRWs later gathered in Comendador Ho Yin Park in Nape last night.
Social media videos showed the workers walking over the old Macau-Taipa bridge to Nape.
The statement noted that the DSAL officials told the workers that according to the law regulating the employment of NRWs, local employers are not required to pay their employees’ quarantine fees.
The bureau urged employees to make their demands sensibly, adding that in the current COVID-19 situation, they should avoid gathering in one place, in order to reduce the risk of the novel coronavirus spreading.
The statement underlined that the bureau will continue to follow up on the issue, and keep in touch with both the workers and their employer, in an attempt to mediate between both sides to solve the issue.
The bureau said in a follow-up statement late last night that the workers’ employment contracts will expire next Thursday.
