About turn

2014/8/26

From：Macau Business Daily

Opinions can change in the blink of an eye. Or so it seems. SJM executive director Ambrose So has performed an unexpected U-turn on the dealer issue. He recently went on record saying the government should approve the hiring of foreign workers to take up casino dealer positions.

As Macau Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On reaffirmed the policy of reserving dealer positions for locals, casino operator SJM Holdings Ltd’s executive director Ambrose So Shu Fai said he “supported” Mr. Chui’s stance. This is despite the intensified human resource competition anticipated among fellow operators when the Cotai casino-resorts open in the near future.
“Regarding the policy of reserving dealer positions for residents only, I would support it,” Mr. So said yesterday. “In each territory, the government is responsible for overseeing the job opportunities of its residents; and just now the Chief Executive said some job types should be prioritised for local residents.”
Mr. So spoke to media after attending a meeting with Mr. Chui yesterday as a business sector member of the Electoral College. The 400-member conference, whose constituents are not directly elected by the public, will vote to elect the city’s next Chief Executive on August 31. MGM China Holdings Ltd’s co-chairperson Pansy Ho and Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd’s deputy chairman Francis Lui are also members of the electoral conference.
Mr. So’s remarks yesterday are markedly different from the stance he recently expressed: in February, the SJM boss urged the government to consider letting casinos employ imported workers, saying that this change of policy could even help residents’ careers.
Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony of SJM’s Cotai project in February, Mr. So said at the time that if the dealers for locals only policy was to remain, Macau residents could not move upwards as the casino operator could not hire people to replace them as they got promoted.
Mr. Chui, currently campaigning for a second five-year term, remarked to the electoral conference yesterday that residents here should have the freedom to choose the dealer position, while taking this job did not mean they would have no access to a fair education system and promotion opportunities.
During the meeting, however, Mr. So failed to obtain a clear answer from Mr. Chui on how the gaming operators should facilitate the provisioning of accommodation and transport for their imported workers – a policy direction that Mr. Chui has mentioned in his re-election manifesto.

Copyright@Macau Business Daily