Hard to determine if special salary schemes are truly voluntary: MGESA
The Macau Gaming Enterprises Staff Association (MGESA) has no position in salary-share partial swap schemes presented by local casino operators, Choi Kam Fu, director-general of the union, has said.
The association is a subsidiary of the Macao Federation of Trade Unions, the city’s largest worker group. The association was founded in 2007.
It was revealed a week ago by local Chinese newspaper Macao Daily News that casino operator Wynn Resorts Macau S.A. has been presenting a salary-share partial swap scheme to their “management level.”
It was said that the adoption of the scheme is at the discretion of affected employees, implying that the scheme is voluntary. Under the scheme, affected employees will see 10% of their salary replaced with company stocks, which are subject to market fluctuations.
In a reply to the Times, a spokesperson from the casino operator confirmed the existence of the scheme, which is internally referred to as Voluntary Stock Program.
Choi was questioned by the press on the sidelines of a recent event on the matter. In response, the trade union head said that the association is “neither for nor against” the scheme.
He further said that he believes such schemes were presented “with the employers considering their own needs,” but added that the association has spoken to certain employees about the scheme.
Choi also emphasized that it is difficult to determine if employees are participating voluntarily in the scheme.
He is confident that local laws will be able to manage the situation. He even compared pre-Covid share-bonus exchange schemes with the current scheme, saying that companies have “incentive plans in different forms.”
In contrast to Choi’s view, employees have been voicing their concerns on various platforms. Being in weak and vulnerable positions, employees fear that if they refuse to adopt the scheme, they may have their unpaid leaves extended or suffer other sanctions as de-facto punishments.
Furthermore, it has been revealed that the definition of “management” went as low as the level of assistant manager. The casino operator did not verify the information in an earlier enquiry.
The Times has learnt that Wynn is not the only casino presenting a similar scheme to its employees, although our source wouldn’t name other gaming operators.
Lawmaker Ron Lam has also commented upon the matter, saying that “employees of some casino operators were not allowed to leave the meeting room unless they agreed to participate in the salary-share partial swap scheme”.
