Lei Wai Nong grilled on labor-related illegalities

The Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lei Wai Nong, came under fire yesterday at the Legislative Assembly (AL) when lawmakers questioned him about the rights of workers, as well as a series of labor-related illegalities they claimed have been happening in Macau for too long without response from the authorities.

At the AL to participate in a Q&A session with lawmakers on several matters related to his secretariat, Lei Wai Nong did not satisfactorily respond to lawmakers’ calls, a fact that, unsurprisingly, did not please them – and they made sure to express their dissatisfaction.

Among the least pleased with the secretary’s and his teams’ answers was lawmaker Nick Lei, who presented an inquiry on topics related to the continuous growth of illegal work in Macau, namely on activities such as photo-taking and driving.

Consistent with previous cases over the last few years, the secretary attempted to respond to the lawmakers’ queries by reading the laws related to the matters, a fact that left Nick Lei particularly angry.

“Why are you responding to our questions with the law instead of responding with measures to tackle the problems?” Nick Lei asked. “There is no evaluation, there are no measures… I don’t want to hear you talking about what the law says, we can read, we know what the law says, what we want [from you] is responses to our questions on how to solve the problems. What are you going to do?”

The same lawmaker noted that the topics presented in his inquiries are facts and reaffirmed that people are providing illegal work services in Macau, advertising them to mainland visitors through online, local platforms, and getting away with it.

“It seems the government responds only to complaints directly filed by residents, but even when this happens and residents complain directly to the police, they [the lawbreakers] claim to be ‘friends’ and helping while nothing happens. It seems like the government is running away from its problem,” the same lawmaker hit back.

In response, a member from Lei Wai Nong’s team in charge of the inspections of illegal work said that, regarding the provision of illegal photography services, the Public Security Police Force (PSP) is attending to this issue through inspections, as well as through the collection of intelligence targeted towards tackling the problem.

“For the whole year of 2023 and until June 2024, there were six people intercepted who were offering these kinds of illegal services. We will continue to intensify our actions to combat this work,” he said.

Nick Lei called on the government to present measures to stop illegal photography works provided by unregistered people in Macau, as well as for the cessation of the performing of illegal driving jobs by mainland motorists’, who have already obtained special permits that allow them to drive across the border into Macau under special circumstances. The lawmaker claimed that there is a well-known and widespread abuse of this special permit.

Not able to appease the lawmaker, the Secretary passed on the response to the same official representing the multidisciplinary team against illegal work, citing figures from the operations of the PSP. Those figures noted that, until June this year, there were a total of 1,579 inspections made, which resulted in the interception of 681 people suspected of performing illegal work in Macau. From these, 206 were said to be drivers; only six were holders of the special permit mentioned by the lawmaker.

Such a response also prompted the intervention of several other lawmakers, like Ella Lei. She said that “penalties for such a wrongdoing are light and therefore are not deterrent enough.”

“The government has said to have collected some MOP3.87 million in fines [over the last 18 months] but only some 2% of the cases have had additional sanctions applied,” she remarked, adding, “We need to perfect the regime. I know the regime already has provisions for additional penalties, but these are rarely applied. As we can see [from official figures], only fewer than 3% of the cases were subjected to sanctions other than fines.”

Lawmaker Lo Choi In also added that illegal workers and people performing illegal activities are not restricted to the aforementioned sectors. Such people can often be found in the food and beverage sector as well, and also the MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions) sector. The lawmaker noted the MICE sector as one of the main sectors through which the government hopes to diversify Macau’s economy.

Lo even affirmed that “illegal workers can even be found in [MICE] events that are organized by the government.” She called again on Lei Wai Nong to present concrete measures to tackle the problem.

In response to Ella Lei, a representative of the Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL) said that the application of additional sanctions depends on the severity of the case in question, such as the damages caused, and so it is not appropriate to apply additional sanctions in all cases related to illegal work.

Responding to the lawmaker Lo, the same DSAL official said that the bureau aims to solve the issue of illegal workers operating through the MICE sector by “implementing awareness-raising activities, disclosing more information and distributing leaflets to better inform people and companies on the matter.”

In a different inquiry on a similar topic, delivered by lawmaker Ron Lam, which was addressed in tandem to the one presented by Nick Lei, Lam noted several corporate illegalities and wrongdoings, citing, inclusively, the recent case unveiled in June involving the luxury retailer DFS, which called on its workers to take at least six days of unpaid leave this summer in an attempt to avoid layoffs.

Refusing to comment on particular cases, the secretary again responded by citing the law, stating that companies can only take such actions “in agreement with their workers and not unilaterally.”

Lam called on Lei Wai Nong to explain the procedure if companies fire, dismiss, or call for unpaid leave from their workers, especially if they possess non-resident workers among their staff members.

On the topic, Lei Wai Nong said, “the general principle is that if companies do this, the government will reevaluate their quotas [for hiring non-resident workers (TNRs)].” He suggested that it “did not seem reasonable” for companies to run afoul of the law.

The matter also involved interventions from other lawmakers such as, among others, José Pereira Coutinho and Leong Sun Iok, highlighting that, in this case, the law and reality were two different things.

“There is the law and there is the reality. Companies are ‘clever’ and know how to take advantage of flaws and loopholes,” Pereira Coutinho said, adding that companies often keep local workers while applying for TNRs quotas; after these have been granted, they start dismissing locals, or even creating hostile work environments that lead them to quit. He called for a regime to effectively enforce the existing laws.

Earlier, Lam called on authorities to be transparent in what concerns the disclosure of TNR hire numbers in Macau. The lawmaker noted that the government has, for some time, been disclosing only a general figure, rather than providing details on the categories or job posts involved. He also noted that, according to research, the majority of new TNRs hired since November last year were working in the hotel industry, which he claims is an industry of preference for unemployed residents.

Lam noted the need to know exactly which jobs companies were hiring TNRs to, so as to ensure efficiency instead of propping up a “wrong job matching system”.

The same lawmaker, backed by Leong, also said there was a need to be aware that companies, when hiring workers, make different demands concerning the required skills and knowledge between resident workers and TNRs, demanding “a lot more” from the locals who aim for the same roles.

The Secretaryresponded with the current unemployment rate, saying that the government has done a lot in the past two years to reach a state of “total employment” for Macau’s population.
According to the secretary, job matching sessions provided by DSAL have provided jobs for over 8,000 residents.

On this score, Lam noted that in the upcoming days, DSAL is organizing, once again, a job-matching session that offers front-desk jobs in the hotel industry with salary offers of around 9,300 patacas per month, hinting that such an offer is almost impossible for local residents who want to take such posts.