Some 60 imported Chinese construction workers working on the Parisian project gathered last Friday and Saturday afternoon in front of the Chinese Liaison Office Building to seek help regarding dismissal compensation, having being sacked by their boss. The Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL) claimed on Saturday night that the workers had accepted the compensation proposed by the contractor. Last Friday, the construction workers, who had been hired by Hsin Chong Engineering (Macau) Limited to work on the construction project of Sands China’s Parisian, said that more than 200 Chinese workers working on the main construction of the project were suddenly fired last Thursday. On Saturday evening, DSAL released a press release indicating that the imported workers who had rejected compensation proposed by the contractor on Friday afternoon finally accepted the pay off. According to the Bureau, some 100 workers hired by the contractor said that they were sacked on Friday. Statutory compensation DSAL said that some of the workers had demanded more than the statutory dismissal compensation and were not willing to send representatives to negotiate. Accordingly, although the contractor promised on Friday afternoon that it would pay the workers statutory compensation within seven days, some 60 other workers gathered again in front of the Liaison Office Building on Saturday afternoon. ‘Following DSAL co-ordinating the issue and explaining [the law] to the workers, the imported labour was finally willing to accept the statutory compensation,’ the Bureau wrote. The statutory compensation regulates that the employer must pay workers compensation amounting to three days’ wages per each month between the dismissal day and the original ending date of the contract. Lionel Leong: implementing exit scheme for non-resident workers Meanwhile, Secretary for Finance and Economy Lionel Leong Vai Tac said on Saturday morning on the sidelines of an event that the government is implementing an exit scheme for imported workers working on the city’s infrastructure, which only allows non-resident labour to stay in the city for one month once their working period finishes. Mr. Leong said this extra one month is for them to receive their salary and to complete the administration procedures for leaving so that there will be no room for them to stay in Macau if unemployed. In addition, he met with the Secretary for Transport and Works Raimundo Rosário, [saying] that the department in charge of infrastructure should communicate with DSAL and the Human Resources Office, so that the government can grant quotas for imported workers based on actual need.
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