Only 27 locals hired for NAT services; social media users unimpressed
The Labour Affairs Bureau’s (DSAL) effort in matching 27 candidates with medical backgrounds to vacancies relating to SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid test administration (NAT) left social media users unimpressed.
According to the front-page report by local media outlet Macao Daily News, DSAL recently posted 200 vacancies relating to the provision of NAT services and managed to link 27 local residents to relevant positions.
Under the social media post about the news, a user mocked the government by “congratulating it for its efficiency in resolving unemployment in Macau.”
Other sources have alleged that the NAT service providers have been hiring mainland residents with lower qualifications and in large numbers. As such, a social media user criticized the hiring of just 27 candidates from Macau, in contrast to the several hundreds of mainland residents who were hired.
Some users criticized that with thousands of Macau residents still unemployed, the 27 candidates who hired was disproportionately low.
In a recent statement, DSAL noted that since early July, it had made constant efforts to help three NAT service providers source employees, and that two online job-matching sessions have been held.
A total of 285 vacancies were posted, with 200 of which were for NAT specimen collector positions. DSAL did not specify areas to which the other 85 vacancies relate.
Earlier, Health Bureau (SSM) recommended that eligible candidates have medical backgrounds, and ideally be sourced from the 15 types of medical staff that require registration, including doctors, dentists, Chinese medicine practitioners, pharmacists, Chinese medicine pharmacists, vocational therapists, speech therapists, psychotherapists, nutritionists, and pharmacy technical assistants. Ideally they should hold medical degrees.
Hired candidates will enjoy a monthly salary ranging from MOP14,000 to MOP16,000 for a specimen collection assistant and from MOP25,000 for a specimen collector.
DSAL encourages interested jobseekers with relevant expertise to register on the government One Account platform.
Locals allegedly sacked after a few daysí work
Yesterday, former lawmaker Sulu Sou posted an article on social media featuring a letter from a local netizen who reportedly worked at the citywide NAT station.
The writer criticized the messy hiring process and stated that the overall process demonstrated an absence of medical knowledge or infection-prevention measures from organizers.
The letter stated that some workers were not assigned to shifts despite already commencing work at the stations. Without identifying the reason, the writer noted that some colleagues were assigned no further shifts after asking about their hourly pay following shifts that lasted up to 13 hours. Some were not assigned to further work after seven days on the NAT Mobile coach.
The writer thus questioned whether the local workers were only a hired as a means of obtaining quotas for employees from the mainland.
The writer found it absurd that on the first day of training, all local trainees – numbering several dozen – were told to sign a document with a copy of their ID cards, noting that they were hired by a NAT service provider. However, the document said nothing about benefits, remuneration, working hours, and did not even have an official letterhead.
Furthermore, the writer pointed out that there were at least 400 people in each of the several NAT job-seeking social media groups. As such, there appeared to be no reason that the city could not fill 200 NAT positions with over 2,000 registered medical staff from the eligible 15 professions.
