Corporate Bits | GEG announces salary rise for staff

Galaxy Entertainment Group announced that all eligible team members will be entitled to a pay rise that will be between 2.5 percent and 8 percent of their monthly salary, effective from April 1. According to the gaming operator, over 70 percent of the team members will enjoy salary increases that are higher than 2.5 percent.

Eligible team members at the senior manager grade and below who joined GEG on or before April 1, 2018 will enjoy the higher salary. For team members with monthly salary of MOP24,000 or below, an increment of MOP600 will be awarded, resulting in salary increases ranging from 2.5 percent to 8 percent. For team members with a monthly salary above MOP24,000, a 2.5 percent salary increase will be awarded. In addition, eligible team members who joined GEG between January 2 and April 1 of this year will enjoy a salary increase after their probation and 90 days of service, Galaxy announced.

In addition, male team members, who have been in service with GEG for one year or above, will be eligible for five days of paid paternity leave, to be taken within 30 days of the birth of their child or children.

Ford tests self-driving cars

Ford Motor Co. is making Miami-Dade County its new test bed for self-driving vehicles. The automaker and its partners — Domino’s Pizza, ride-hailing company Lyft and delivery company Postmates — are starting pilot programs to see how consumers react to autonomous and semi- autonomous vehicles. Self- driving startup and Ford partner Argo AI already has a fleet of cars in the area making the highly detailed maps that are necessary for self-driving. Ford also will establish its first-ever autonomous vehicle terminal in Miami, where it will learn how to service and deploy its test fleet.

More services will likely be introduced as the partnership goes on, including Chariot, an app-based shuttle service owned by Ford. It’s all part of Ford’s effort to find viable business models for fully autonomous vehicles and get them on the road by 2021.

“This is, I think, the future of any automotive company or mobility company. If a majority of the world’s population is going to be living in cities, we need to understand how to move those people around,” said John Kwant, Ford’s vice president of city solutions, who inked the deal with Miami-Dade.