CPCS: Gov’t proposes keeping minimum wage, severance pay unchanged

The government has proposed making no change to the amount of the minimum wage for local cleaners and security guards working in residential buildings, nor the compensation ceiling used to calculate compensation on contract termination. The decision was made during the third and last meeting of the year from the Standing Committee for the Coordination of Social Affairs (CPCS).
The final proposal by the government came after clashing points of view emerged between the representatives of the employers and members of the committee, which meant that a consensus could not be reached on the matter.
The government justified the decision of not updating the amount during the annual review by noting that this was informed by analysis of the market and economic situation during 2019 as well as the financial impacts observed during 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic crisis.
“After analyzing several factors and considering, in general, the economy, the business environment, the [current] guarantee of employees, the labor market, among other [factors] in Macau in 2019, as well as taking into account that these factors were strongly affected by the pandemic in 2020, leading to a drop in the gross domestic product and the median of monthly income, the government suggested maintaining the current limits and level,” the CPCS stated.
The decision maintains the statutory minimum wage at 32 patacas per hour, 256 patacas per day, 1,536 patacas per week, or 6,656 patacas a month, according to the method defined on the workers’ contracts.
In the same way, the ceiling used to calculate the workers’ compensation on contract termination continued to be calculated at a maximum of 21,000 patacas.
Following this standard was the review on the ceiling of compensation for work accidents and occupational diseases, leading to their maintenance at current levels.
In the last point in the agenda, the CPCS heard opinions from all interested parties, namely employers and employees, on the draft law for “Occupational safety and health in civil construction.” The proposed law aims to constitute a full review of the current “Regulation of Hygiene and Safety in Civil Construction Work,” a law that is now approximately 10 years old and which, according to the government, must be significantly amended to be up-to-date with the developments and advancement of technology, improvement in the use of equipment for the execution of works, tools, techniques, and devices of the civil construction sector, as well as the criteria for safety tests, technical requirements and relevant standards applied in the use of equipment for the execution of works.
On the subject, the Labour Affairs Bureau, which is in charge of drafting the new bill, took note of the different opinions from CPCS members and pledged to further investigate them, and seek the necessary input for the upcoming legislative process.