Chosen bidder for minimum wage study

2011-11 -29
From: Macau Daily Times

The Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL) is waiting for authorisation to commission a study on a minimum wage for cleaning and security workers, director Shuen Ka Hung said

A study on the possible implementation of a statutory minimum wage for all cleaning and security workers should begin by the end of this year, the coordinator of the Standing Committee for the Coordination of Social Affairs said.
At yesterdays meeting the committee discussed the results of the public tender for the research. The representatives of both employers and workers reached an agreement on the winning tender, Shuen Ka Hung told journalists.
Shuen, who is also the Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL) director, had said in July that only the University of Macau and a private research institution had so far expressed interest in participating in the open tender.
But yesterday the official declined to disclose any further information on the research. First we need to have the higher-up authorisation and only then we will able to publicly announce the winner, he explained.
The whole process should be ready in time for the committees next meeting, which is scheduled for December 29, the official added. Only once the study is complete and we have analysed it will we start looking into the legislative works, he said.
Macau currently has a minimum wage but only for the cleaning and security workers outsourced by the government. The representatives of both employers and workers have failed to reach a consensus on a statutory minimum wage for all workers in these two sectors.
Part-time suggestions

The committee also discussed the introduction of regulation on part-time work, with the Administration pledging to make a decision on the conditions before the end of this year or in early 2012, Shuen said.
The workers representatives believe part-time work should be limited to less than 24 hours and four days a week and that any contract should be restricted to a six-month period.
They also called for part-time workers to have the basic benefits already included in the Labour Relations Law but the employers representatives rejected this proposal. Instead they suggested a limit of 192 hours per four weeks, Shuen said.
We still have no consensus and there is a big gap between the two sides, the official conceded. The government will consider both views while deciding on which should be the conditions, he said.
Meanwhile the workers representatives are still considering the possibility of allowing non-resident staff, who do not have their contract renewed, to try to find another job without being forced to leave Macau for six months, the DSAL director said.
The government is willing to wait for them to make up their mind, he added.
But Shuen stressed that even if the new exception is introduced non-resident workers will not be allowed to freely change jobs. Any contract will have to be approved by both the Human Resources Office and the Immigration Services, he said.
On Sunday, the Peduli Indonesian Migrant Workers Concern Group met with DSAL to deliver a petition with 900 signatures asking for the end of the six-month ban. Copies of the letter were handed out to representatives of employers and workers but neither side made any comment, Shuen said.

Copyright Macau Daily Times