Coutinho asks for 7 pct increase for civil servant: Gov’t should set up the Press Council

2011-11-02
From: Macau Daily Times

Lawmaker Pereira Coutinho met with the Chief Executive and said that the top official has agreed to set up an automatic scheme to raise the wages for civil servants

The Macau Civil Servants Association (ATFPM) urged Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On to raise wages of public workers in accordance with the inflation rate, which he says is close to seven percent.
Yesterday, the president of the main local civil servant association, Joseacute Pereira Coutinho, met with Chui to suggest a number of measures that should be included in the 2012 Policy Address. The governments top official will make his annual speech at the Legislative Assembly on November 15.
Pereira Coutinho, who is also a directly-elected lawmaker, warned Chui that civil servants have been dramatically losing their purchasing power due to the rising inflation, which is affecting residents quality of life.
He also said the middle class has been forgotten by the social policies launched so far, stressing that middle-income earners are being squeezed because of the increasing prices.
Last year, in the 2011 Policy Address, Chui announced that Administration workers would get a pay raise of 5.08 percent, meaning the wage index increased from MOP 59 to 62.
However, Pereira Coutinho said statistics showed that Macaus consumer price index, the main gauge of inflation, increased by 6.51 percent year-on-year in September. Hence, any salary increase should be over the inflation rate, he added.
The legislator said the meeting went very well.
The Chief Executive agreed on setting up an automatic scheme to raise the wages for civil servants, Pereira Coutinho said.
The revision of the press law is also a concern for the association that he heads. The government announced last year that it would review both press and audio-visual broadcasting laws.
A survey was commissioned to the local research company ERS to find out if residents agree with this revision. The government granted MOP 3.5 million to the research group, which is due to submit a report by August 2012.
However, Pereira Coutinho stressed that the government should above all consider the opinion of local journalists, who will actually have to adapt to eventual adjustments to the press law.
The ATFPM supports some local journalists that argue that the law does not need to be revised, he said.
Many journalists are against the revision of the law. They feel that it works well as it is. Its balanced and defends the rights, freedoms and guarantees of journalists, said the head of the association.
Instead, he called on the government to set up the Press Council and to enact a journalist code, two provisions stated in the current law but that never saw the light of day.
In addition, Pereira Coutinho urged the government not to axe the MOP 1,500 housing allowance for civil service pensioners. He said that the association has been receiving complaints from senior citizens who have seen their allowance scrapped.
The association also demanded changes in the calculation method of the years of service for retirement pensions and seniority bonus.

Copyright Macau Daily Times