The Macau Federation of Trade Unions (FAOM) released its survey about local employment and labour legislation during a press conference yesterday, the result of which shows that among the 1,608 respondents, over 70 percent saw the need to extend their statutory annual paid leave, with over 45 percent of them saying they hoped their annual leave would be increased by ‘three to four” days from the current six days, while over 20 percent said they hoped that their annual leave would be increased by “five to six” days.

According to the Labour Relations Law, local employees have the right to six days of statutory paid leave per year.

Concerning the need to increase the city’s mandatory public holidays per year, as well as to extend paid maternity leave, nearly 70 percent and over 65 percent of the respondents said, according to the findings, they hoped the government would increase the number of mandatory public holidays and prolong paid maternity leave from 10 days and 70 days respectively.

The Macau Federation of Trade Unions (commonly known as Gung Luen in Cantonese) conducted the “2023 Improvement of the Labour Relations Law Legal Questionnaire Survey” between June and last month, during which members of the unions collected 1,608 valid questionnaires from local residents aged at least 16 on the street and online. The findings of the survey were released by four FAOM representatives, including directly-elected lawmaker Ella Lei Cheng I and indirectly-elected lawmaker Lam Lon Wai, at the FAOM headquarters in Patane.

The overall result of the survey shows that nearly 60 percent of the respondents said they believed that the current Labour Relations Law does not sufficiently protect workers’ rights and interests, with nearly 40 percent of the respondents saying that they have experienced issues related to labour rights.

In terms of the local standard on working hours, according to the findings, of the 1,608 respondents 35.07 percent, 34.64 percent, 31.16 percent, 30.78 percent and 29.85 percent, respectively, said they have to work “overtime”, “during their paid annual leave”, “shifts”, “weekly rest days” and “overnight”, adding they hoped that their working times would be improved and guaranteed by law.

According to the findings, more than 60 percent of the respondents said that the penalties provided by the Labour Relations Law “are not strong enough” to protect their wages, while another 60 percent of the respondents said that the government should remove the ceiling on the amount and types of compensation for wrongful dismissal, with nearly 70 percent urging the government to clarify its review method of the statutory minimum wage amount.

Considering the respondents’ insufficient knowledge of the Labour Relations Law, Lam urged the government during the press conference to continuously enhance the legal awareness of both employers and employees by strengthening the role of its mainstream channels for releasing relevant information, while innovating the form of its labour-related publicity and promotion campaigns.

Lam also urged the government to pay closer attention to the protection of employees’ rights and interests by launching a comprehensive review of the Labour Relations Law as soon as possible in line with the development of the local economy and social situation.

Regarding the payment of outstanding salaries, Lei said that the cases the unions have so far dealt with involved the construction, retail and catering industries, adding that among the cases, most of them were collective in nature, with dozens of people being affected at a time and some of the wages still being delayed for several months even after successfully taking legal action against their employers.

Speaking to The Macau Post Daily after the press conference, Lei said that as a tourism city, Macau’s government should have a comprehensive mechanism for language support considering that some foreign workers in Macau who have encountered labour or other job-related disputes have been unable to fight for their legitimate rights because of the lack of interpreters.

Macau Federation of Trade Unions (FAOM) representatives Lei Chin Tou (from left to right), indirectly-elected lawmaker Lam Lon Wai, directly-elected lawmaker Ella Lei Cheng I and Choi Kam Fu pose during yesterday’s press conference about the findings of the group’s latest labour-related survey, at the FAOM headquarters in Patane.
– Photo: Yuki Lei