The findings of a recent survey indicate over half of the respondents working in the catering industry are earning below the median income in Macau, with more than 90 percent of the respondents saying that they had not received a raise in the past one to four years, while over 70 percent said that their salaries have remained unchanged since last year.
The Macau Federation of Trade Unions (MFTU or FAOM – aka Gung Luen in Cantonese) and the Service Sector Employees’ General Association of Macau conducted a survey regarding the working life of employees in the catering industry between April and last month, with 1,543 valid questionnaires collected. The findings of the survey were released by representatives of the two groups, including directly-elected lawmaker-cum-unionist Ella Lei Cheng I, during a press conference on Friday at the FAOM headquarters in Patane.
According to the findings, nearly 80 percent of the respondents said that they were “generally worried” or “worried” about their job prospects, with more than 70 percent saying they believed that there was not enough room for upward mobility and development in the industry, while over 78 percent said that they were willing to participate in work-related training courses, but their companies had not provided relevant training in the past year.
The findings show that more than half of the respondents worked about eight to 10 hours a day, excluding rest and meals, and more than half of the respondents said they were facing “high” or “very high” work pressure.
In terms of expenditure, according to the findings, more than 80 percent of the respondents spent most of their income on household expenses followed by water, electricity and gas bills, as well as transportation fees.
More than 76 percent of the respondents said they believed that the employment of non-resident workers (NRWs) in the industry “has an impact” on their work.
In order to enhance the international reputation and competitiveness of Macau’s catering industry, Lei urged the government during the press conference to strengthen the functions of specialised training institutions and establish a professional training system to provide the city’s catering staff with “comprehensive and systematic” professional training courses, while also working closely with the industry to provide more internship and employment opportunities.
In order to create a “good” career development environment, Lei also urged the government to adopt policies to establish an evaluation and job promotion system among the employees in the industry, strengthen international food exchanges and cooperation and enhance local talents’ culinary skills and innovation awareness, thus broadening their development platform.
Regarding most of the catering staff’s salaries having remained unchanged in the past few years, Service Sector Employees’ General Association of Macau President Sou Wai Leong urged the government during the press conference to regularly assess and raise the city’s statutory minimum wage and strengthen supervision of employers’ compliance with the minimum wage requirements; clarify their salary structure and promotion mechanism and strengthen the supervision of salary fairness, monitor and prevent enterprises from “unreasonably” raising the threshold for hiring locals and “depressing” locals’ wages; and strengthen social security and welfare support, such as the provision of industry subsidies and medical insurance, in order to reduce catering sector employees’ financial burden.
Representatives of the Service Sector Employees’ General Association of Macau and the Macau Federation of Trade Unions (MFTU or FAOM – aka Gung Luen in Cantonese), including lawmaker-cum-unionist Ella Lei Cheng I (front, second from left), pose on the sidelines of Friday’s press conference about the findings of a survey regarding the working conditions of employees in the catering industry, at the FAOM headquarters in Patane.
– Photo courtesy of TDM
