AL implements civil servants salary hike in May

2012-04-03
From: Macau Daily Times
The Legislative Assembly (AL) is speeding up its review of the salary increase for civil servants, hoping to make it implemented by May. The third standing committee of AL held its first meeting yesterday to deliberate the details of the bill, which was approved at a plenary session last week after more than one hour of fierce debate. Cheang Chi Keong, president of the committee told the media after yesterdays meeting that the government and the AL committee did not have any disagreement over the bill and the two sides agreed to finish the remaining examination and review of the bill as soon as possible, to make it implementable by May 1.
To achieve this target, the committee made special arrangements by deploying two working teams to conduct technical reviews and analysis of the bill, hoping to ensure that the committee could sign the opinion on the bill after the Easter holiday this weekend, before putting it for final approval by an AL general session.
Asked of the most controversial part of the bill, whether the increase is retroactive, and whether the commission responsible for reviewing the salary increase agreed to make the bill retroactive, Cheang said the commission was only an advisory body whose decision does not have binding effects on legislative procedures.
The bill allows a 6.5 percent increase for the citys public workers estimated to be around 28,000 in total. The AL witnessed a fierce debate last week on the bill which was finally approved but without retroactive effect as many public workers requested. The lawmaker Joseacute Pereira Coutinho, who is also the president of the Macau Civil Servants Association, raised a proposal to approve the salary increase by emergency procedure, in order to include a retroactive effect clause to the bill. But the urgent call was opposed by all other fellow legislators and vetoed as a result.

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