The Macau Civil Servants Association has called for “realistic encouragement” for frontline public service workers due to the impact of Covid-19 on Macau in a letter to the Chief Executive (CE), Ho Iat Seng.
The group stated that since the Covid-19 outbreak in Macau, at various points of time and locations, such as to the media and the Legislative Assembly, it has called for the government to offer salary increases to show support and encouragement.
“Through which, it can achieve the effect of recognizing [civil servants’] work,” the group explained in the letter to the CE.
Lawmaker Pereira Coutinho is the director-general of the group.
Coutinho has also made the suggestions at the parliamentary debates held for the social affairs and culture sector, the security sector and the economy and finance sector.
“At the debate sessions, senior officials have disclosed that they had studied and discussed the proposals,” the group recalled in the letter. “But eventually they have not clearly justified why the proposals were turned down.”
The failure to push forward with the proposals have, in the group’s opinion, “let down the large team of frontline civil servants and affected their morale.”
The group cited the Security Forces, the Health Bureau, the Macao Government Tourism Office, the Government Information Bureau and the Labour Affairs Bureau as examples to highlight the contributions made to control the pandemic by the team of civil servants.
In the request for the “encouragement” plan, the group cited gambling concessionaire SJM for pledging to offer at most two months’ salary to its team as a “special living subsidy.”
Gambling labor rights advocate Cloee Chao has previously called for similar subsidy for all workers in the gambling industry.
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