FMG: Jimei fires 20 workers and will fire more

By
Kam Leong

Local gaming labour union Forefront of Macau Gaming (FMG) claims that junket operator Jimei International Entertainment Group Ltd. fired some 20 VIP gaming workers this month and is planning to lay off another group at the end of the month.
The president of the association, Ieong Man Teng, told Business Daily in a phone interview yesterday that he had received requests for assistance from two of these workers.
“The laid-off workers can be divided into two groups – those reasonably dismissed and those unreasonably dismissed. For workers who were fired by the operator without a proper reason, they have actually been compensated by their boss based on the labour law. We now need to see how we can complain to the Labour Affairs Bureau or if there is anything else we can do,” Mr. Ieong said.
According to the labour union head, the workers who have been fired by Jimei are primarily those with bad performance records. But the company’s unreasonable dismissals involve workers who have just come back to the city following business trips.
Trend
Mr. Ieong also told us that the junket operator plans to fire more workers by the end of the month although he is not sure of the details. “We are not clear about how many [workers] they are to fire. We don’t have the related information right now,” he said.
Nevertheless, an independent non-executive director of Jimei, Kwok Chi Chung, told Business Daily yesterday that “cutting human resources is the trend”, although he claimed that he is not clear about his company’s plan to fire more workers by the end of the month.
Mr. Kwok, who is also the chairman of the city’s Gaming Junket and Entertainment Association (AMJEM), indicated that nearly all of the city’ junket operators are cutting their manpower costs amid the gaming downturn.
“Under the current situation… when the [operating] costs are that high, what should we do if we don’t cut manpower?” asked the junket Association director.
During the second quarter of this year, gross gaming revenues of the city’s VIP baccarat dropped 42.2 per cent year-on-year to MOP31.57 billion, occupying about 55.5 per cent of the city’s total gaming gross gaming revenue of MOP56.87 billion during the period, which is a further plunge in share from the 58.3 per cent posted for the first quarter.