Lawmaker Ma Io Fong wants a new regime to regulate all domestic workers separately from other non-resident workers (TNRs).
Ma expressed this wish in a spoken inquiry to the government during last week’s plenary session at the Legislative Assembly (AL).
In the period before the agenda, the lawmaker reiterated the problems experienced by the population regarding the hiring of TNRs during the Covid-19 pandemic, specifically those related to domestic work.
As other lawmakers have on occasion, Ma accused domestic workers of threatening their employers and forcing them to raise their salaries to figures not seen before, due to the difficulties created by the border restrictions and the new law for the hiring of TNRs.
The lawmaker recalled the recent case of a foreign domestic worker suspected of abusing and mistreating a child as part of a call on the government to establish a special regime, separating domestic workers from other professions.
“Domestic workers are the [people] who take responsibility for caring for the elderly and children. Therefore, residents expect that they can be regulated by strict and specific laws and regimes to ensure the safety of families and property. Chaotic situations and crimes involving non-resident domestic workers are frequent,” Ma said.
The lawmaker went on to propose four amendments to the current regulations, including: improving policy on changing jobs to avoid dishonest resignation; open special channels for the import of foreign domestic workers; increasing supply to prevent “chaotic situations”; establishing a specific “law on domestic workers” to protect the rights and interests of domestic workers and their employers; and regulating the conditions of entry for domestic workers and creating a database of them.
With these changes, the lawmaker intends for the government to have more information on domestic workers before they are hired by local families, along with a regime in which employers reestablish the “upper hand” that he claims has been lost in the last two years.
Ma noted that the current situation has allowed the salaries of some workers to “have almost doubled in the last two years.” He also claimed that other situations – such as “lack of care in the work” and provoking conflict with the purpose of “trying to be fired” – have been occurring often as a method to increase their pay or force contract terminations so as to allow the worker to “change the type of work.” Ma believes this situation has let “employers become a vulnerable group”.
Border control policies must change for recovery
Lawmaker Lo Choi In called on the government to change current border control policies.
According to the lawmaker, the zero-cases policy adopted so far “has had several impacts on the economy and the lives of the population of Macau.” She added that the end of the year allows for some new opportunities – specifically with the arrival of Chinese New Year – which the government should not squander.
“In addition to keeping border crossing stable between Macau and mainland China, it is also necessary to actively fight [alongside] Hong Kong for the easing of the border crossing measures [between the cities]. [The government must aim] for the resumption of normal exchanges between residents of Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau to be restored as much as possible, allowing local companies to take advantage of the golden period. [It would also allow for the] reintegration by some unemployed people into the labor market, and for family reunions [for] members who have been separated for a long time.”
Lo also called for the easing of restrictions on the importation of foreign domestic workers, urging the government to consider authorizing their re-entry into Macau by making use of vaccination and quarantine resources. This would, according to Lo, alleviate the pressure in family care and the economic burden on residents by bolstering the labor force. RM
