Minimum wage bill only in next legislative session

2013-5-7

From：Macau Daily Times

The Secretary for Economy and Finance, Francis Tam, said yesterday that Macau expects representatives of employers and employees to reach an agreement on the range of a statutory minimum wage but that it would be unlikely for the government to submit the draft bill of this law to the Legislative Assembly (AL) before the end of its current term in August.
Speaking at a promotion seminar for Yunnan-Macau-Portuguese-speaking Countries Economic Cooperation cum China-South Asia Expo, which is to be held in June in Kuming, Tam said the government expected employers and employees to reach a consensus about the statutory minimum wage in June, paving the way for the government to draft the much anticipated law and conduct a public consultation.
The government suggested earlier that the minimum wage for cleaners and security guards would be in the range of MOP23 – MOP28 per hour. Tam expected the two sides to negotiate in this range but TDM quoted him saying that it doesn’t mean that the possibility of more than MOP28 can’t be discussed, although a payment lower than MOP23 is not an option.

However, the authority would not be able to submit the draft bill before the current term of the Legislative Assembly ends in August. This means that the earliest timing for the legislation would be after the September AL election. Tam said the authority is aiming for the new law “late this year or early next year”.
During the media session, he also mentioned that the government would bring in the first group of mainland domestic helpers totaling 300 people mainly from neighboring provinces including Guangdong and Fujian.
According to the Government Information Bureau, the Secretary said that the local government had been coordinating with the central government over a trial scheme of introducing mainland domestic helpers into Macau, and he confirmed that the final agreement had been reached and sent to the Ministry of Commerce in Beijing for final approval.
“The SAR government hoped this scheme will be carried out as soon as possible,” he was quoted as saying, without specifying when it was to be implemented. Instead, he said the first group of helpers involved in this trial scheme will be 300 people, 200 of them from the neighboring Guangdong province and 100 from Fujian province further north. He added that Macau could immediately execute the agreement upon the central government giving the green light.
In March, the Secretary said he expected applications for employing mainland domestic helpers would likely start in the second half of the year. Industry players quoted sources as saying that the initial target salary is MOP 5,000 each month.

Copyright@Macau Daily Times