José Pereira Coutinho
As Macau continues to undergo social and economic development, local legislators are calling for comprehensive revisions to the city’s labor laws to better safeguard the rights and interests of workers.
Lawmaker and president of the Macau Civil Servants’ Association, José Pereira Coutinho, has called on a comprehensive revision to the Labor Relations Law, highlighting that the current law imposed would need to keep up with the times.
“Over the past 10 years, Macau has experienced rapid social development and changes. Due to the unique nature of labor relations, it is time for the 2008 Labor Relations Law to be comprehensively amended,” Coutinho said in an interview with the Times.
Coutinho noted that under the current law, employers can dismiss employees at will, and workers in the gaming industry are not provided with any allowances for night and shift work.
“All in all, 25 years after the handover, the SAR Government has not yet been able to fully protect the basic rights and interests of laborers,” he said.
Coutinho also highlighted the lack of transparency in the amendment process, which is handled by the Standing Committee for the Coordination of Social Affairs, and the need for relevant departments to address public complaints against illegal workers more promptly.
As Macau’s economy continues to evolve, lawmakers and advocates agree that comprehensive labor law reforms are necessary to ensure that the rights and interests of workers are fully protected.
Ella Lei
Echoing similar sentiments, lawmaker and head of the Macau Federation of Trade Unions (FAOM) Ella Lei emphasized the need to review all labor laws, rather than just addressing specific issues such as minimum wage and compensation for work accidents.
“Compensation for work accidents, labor union protection, and many other issues related to labor law protection are impossible to change all at once,” Lei told TDM.
“But the government cannot always say that there are no steps to be taken, and only conduct a few inspections every year.”
Lei noted that while the government does inspect minimum wage provisions and work accident compensation annually, there is no clear plan for addressing other pressing labor issues.
“In some stages, where social demands are more severe, such as those we have been strongly advocating for many years, the mechanisms for seeking compensation should be optimized, and the enforcement mechanisms and punishments for illegal work need to be optimized,” she said.
The Labor Day was first marked in Macau in 1965, despite not being celebrated in Salazar’s Portugal at the time. Only in 1974, right after the Carnation Revolution coup, fifty years ago, the Portuguese authorities instituted the mandatory May Day holiday. Staff Reporter
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