Tourism bus drivers call on CE’s intervention in labor dispute

A group of about 400 tourism bus drivers working for local travel agencies has delivered a letter to Chief Executive (CE) Ho Iat Seng, calling for his help with a labor-related problem that has caused the workers serious financial stress.
According to the letter, the drivers have a contract which states that they receive a base salary of only MOP2,000 per month, as well as commission that is calculated per person they transport during agency-programmed tours.
With the coronavirus outbreak and measures taken by both the central and local governments to contain the virus, all tour groups from the mainland have been canceled, resulting in drivers going without work and therefore without the largest part of their monthly income.
The drivers expressed their discontentment with the situation, which they consider as unfair treatment imposed by their employers, who have agreed to follow the same rules and standardized procedure as other companies.
The letter, delivered to the government’s headquarters with the help of lawmaker José Pereira Coutinho, calls for the intervention by the government in the situation.
As an emergency measure aiming to tackle the situation of “extreme difficulty” faced by drivers and their families, the group is requesting the government to grant them a special interest-free loan and an advance of payments from the Non-mandatory Central Provident Fund System.
The group also claims to have no entitlement to holidays, paid leave or health assistance, urging the government to urgently amend the labor law to address this problem.
Driving is one of Macau’s protected professions, meaning that only local residents are allowed to be employed in this job role, similar to casino croupiers. However, the group also claims that the profession has been suffering due to a growing number of illegal drivers from the mainland who have been successfully transporting tourists across the border and into Macau because of the lack of inspection by the authorities.
Flaws in the current labor laws have been addressed by several lawmakers in the past few weeks, and were highlighted by the temporary closure of a wide range of services and businesses as per the government’s order or by the initiative of private management due to the economic shutdown caused by the coronavirus.