Looking at the general data, Macau’s employment situation has improved compared to 1999 – the time of the handover. The unemployment rate was as high as 6.5 percent but is now at 2.1 percent; the median monthly salary among residents was barely 5,000 patacas, but is now around 20,000 patacas.
The minimum wage also increased this year, from 6,656 patacas to 7,072 patacas, despite a delay in this revision and some groups being excluded – the law, in force since 2020, establishes a revision every two years and excluded disabled people and domestic workers, the latter of whom work the most hours according to official figures (see graphs).
Meanwhile, the city also saw the approval of its first Union Law, in an article that leaves out collective bargaining and the right to strike. Asked about the evolution of labor rights in recent years, the lawmaker and vice-president of the board of the Federation of Macau Workers’ Associations is peremptory: the progress made is commendable, but there is still a lot of room for improvement. “The number of annual holidays and the vacation system have remained unchanged for more than 30 years. Measures for annual leave are still lagging and, as Macau’s society and economy develop, the right to leave and rest should be more complete,” says Leong Sun Iok. Despite the increase in maternity leave from 56 to 70 days in 2020, the lawmaker says it is necessary to give more support to female workers to encourage an increase in the birth rate.
Regulations regarding occupational diseases are also “overdue. I therefore believe that there is still room for improvement in labor standards, and I hope that the government will pay more attention to these issues in the future. One of the most important manifestations of social progress is the employment environment and conditions for our workers,” he notes.
Complaints pile up
The SAR is currently a signatory to 34 International Labor Organization (ILO) basic conventions.
However, last year alone, the ILO submitted several negative observations, namely regarding compensation for accidents at work, the right to organize unions and sexual harassment in the workplace.
The current Union Law was deplored by the Committee of Experts on the Application of ILO Conventions for not covering the right to collective bargaining and to strike. “Recalling that the Union Law has been a long and ongoing process since 2005, the Committee urges the Government to take the necessary steps, whether through the current Union Law or otherwise, to ensure that collective bargaining rights, as enshrined in the Convention, are explicitly made available to all workers and employers without further delay,” the committee indicated.
The ILO also called on the Macau government to take steps to develop legislative provisions that explicitly define and prohibit both quid pro quo sexual harassment and hostile environment sexual harassment, covering the full range of behaviors that constitute sexual harassment.
Regarding accidents at work, the Committee asked the government to ensure that all injured workers, including those with permanent or temporary partial disability, receive additional compensation when the constant help of another person is required and to provide information on the measures taken to this end.
Under the current law, if a worker is temporarily incapacitated by an accident at work and needs constant help from another person, the companion can receive compensation for transportation costs.
Also last year, a report by the United Nations (UN) Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights showed concern about human rights, labor rights and the situation of migrant workers. At the time, the Committee called on the SAR authorities to extend minimum wage protection to domestic workers, increase the effectiveness of labor inspection services and take steps to ensure the equal application of labor legislation to migrant workers.
In the same report, the UN also mentioned the fact that the Trade Union Law does not provide for the right to strike, collective bargaining, or specific protection against retaliation by employers.
About these arguments, the authorities relied on the public consultation carried out on the draft Trade Union Law, which did not show “consensus in society on the matter” and that the current law does not prevent “labor and employer parties from communicating and negotiating about working conditions and the protection of rights and interests”.
When questioned on the subject, Leong Sun Iok said that the passing of the Trade Union Law was a “new milestone” for the labor rights movement. “The Law provides basic protection for workers to organize and participate in unions and exercise their rights, so that when we exercise our duties, obligations and rights, we can do so in a more systematic way and in accordance with the law,” he said.
The MP was more concerned about the current mechanism for reviewing the minimum wage
“The value of the minimum wage should be reviewed every two years, but often the review has dragged on for a long time. In this sense, there is still room for improvement in terms of building this system in Macau,” he believes.
The labor representative believes that, in order to balance the opinions of employers and workers, a set of more comprehensive formulas should be adopted, so that the setting of minimum wages can be “more scientific and without litigation”. For this reason, he suggests the creation of an integrated commission within the Social Welfare Association, which would carry out regular evaluations and studies on updating the minimum wage.
“This would be a more effective method of protecting low-income workers,” he concludes.
