AL: Final reading for minimum wage bill

By
Joanne Kuai

The Chairman of the Third Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly (AL), Cheang Chi Kong, said the subcommittee has finished the discussion regarding the minimum wage bill for cleaning and security workers. The bill will be sent to the plenary meeting at AL for its final reading to be passed by legislators at the end of June.
The legislator told reporters after a closed-door meeting of the AL sub-committee with government officials that the final draft suggest cleaners and security workers in Macau earn no less than MOP30 per hour or MOP6,240 per month.
Cheang Chi Kong indicated that the monthly salary of MOP6,240 may be less than MOP30 per hour, but workers paid on a monthly basis usually have other benefits and bonuses and the government’s outsourced cleaning and security workers has been paid using this method since 2007, with no controversy observed so far.
Mr. Cheang said they would hand the final draft to the general assembly of legislators at the soonest by the end of this month or at the beginning of next month. Once the bill is passed, it would take effect from January 1 next year, with a review conducted at the beginning of 2017.
The chairman of the subcommittee told reporters that the Secretary for Economy and Finance Lionel Leong Vai Tai had promised again during the meeting that the universal minimum wage policy will be introduced within three years following the implementation of the minimum wage bill for cleaning and security workers. Mr. Cheang added that by that time, these two standards will also serve as reference.
The city’s very first minimum wage bill was proposed by the government in June 2014. The first reading was passed by the AL last July.
J.K.