Lawmaker Lei stresses mutual consent as basis for critical change

When critical employment principles are to be changed, mutual consent from both employer and employee is critical, lawmaker Ella Lei said yesterday.

Lei is part of the Macao Federation of Trade Unions (FAOM) and is understood to be representing employees’ interests at the Legislative Assembly (AL).

The comment came amid reports Wynn Macau Ltd. has shortened the work breaks for croupiers. Lei said her association received complaints Tuesday.

The lawmaker said work and break times, as well as salary are important employment benchmarks. Under the Labour Relations Law, contracts and agreements – whether written or verbal – should not be lightly changed unless employers and employees have reached a consensus.

“Such contract or agreement terms possess legal power and cannot be changed by a single party,” Lei explained.

She added that in the past three years, many employees have experienced salary cuts and furlough amid dropping revenues and she hopes employers build a better ambience for their teams as the economy gradually revives.

Lei also said the labour law has existed for over a decade. She said a review is needed considering the number of employment disputes that have occurred in the past three years. Reviewing it will help better protect employees, she said.

At the same time, she said she is not authorized to comment whether FAOM will identify itself as a labor union should the Labour Union Bill be passed at the parliament.

Gambling worker group submits petition

A casino worker group yesterday submitted a petition to the labor bureau complaining about a casino operator’s alleged alteration of break periods.

Cloee Chao, president of the New Macau Gaming Staff Rights Association, said the Association alone had received complaints from over 2,000 croupiers with Wynn Macau Ltd.

Both Chao and labor sector lawmaker Ella Lei have confirmed the casino operator had “suspended” the plan.

It has been revealed affected workers rejected the suspension and called for full withdrawal of the proposal.

According to Chao, croupiers with the casino operator are allowed a 30 minute break every 1.5 hours of work. On a workday, each croupier will have four such break periods.

The proposed arrangement will extend work periods before each break period to two hours, with the break duration unchanged.

Chao said this is a promise made in the employee handbook. She said break periods are crucial to croupiers because they need to be “extremely focused” at work to “avoid making mistakes.”

She feared it is a prelude to cutting employee benefits.

According to several media sources, Wynn has suspended the proposed arrangement, and explained that offering four break periods each workday surpasses the offering by competitors. The proposed move aims at aligning Wynn with its fellow casino operators.

AL works

The parliament held a media lunch yesterday. The president said that during the first year of this legislative term, 41 plenary meetings have been held, 19 bills have been passed and a resolution has been made. The seven committees have held 176 meetings.