The New Macau Gaming Staff Rights Association is worried that gaming concessionaires are just waiting to receive new gaming licenses to proceed with layoffs of local workers, president Cloee Chao told Macau News Agency.
The current six gaming concessionaires and sub-concessionaires licenses are set to expire on June 26, however, authorities have already stated they plan to provide a six-month extension until December 31 of this year.
A public tender for new gaming licenses will proceed once a general gaming law amendment is approved by the Legislative Assembly (AL), with the standing committee currently evaluating the bill and expected to sign the final draft today and submit it to the plenary for voting.
In comments to MNA, Chao stated that the association believes under the current economic downturn in the tourism and gaming sector there are “roughly half more employees than needed” with gaming concessionaires believed to be waiting for the right time to reduce their number of employees.
“The reason why there are no layoffs now is that they need to apply for gaming licenses. I hope that the government will add specific regulations and impose additional conditions when issuing gaming licenses, requiring gaming concessionaires not to lay off employees,” she noted.
According to the latest employment survey, the local unemployment rate reached 3.5 per cent and that of residents was 4.5 per cent, the same as in the previous period, and the underemployment rate rose 0.2 percentage points to 3 per cent.
Most new unemployed workers in the SAR were previously employed in the gaming or construction sectors, with the gaming industry – which includes casinos, junkets and lotteries – accounting for 26.5 per cent, or 2,800, of the city’s underemployed population in the first quarter of 2022.
However, warry of dismissing local residents most gaming concessionaires have mainly dismissed non-resident employees and asked resident staff to accept non-paid leave or reduced wage arrangements.
Some of Macau’s casino operators have introduced voluntary exit schemes for staff interested in pursuing new careers elsewhere or even awarded company shares to employees who accept wage reductions.
The expected closing of some satellite casinos in the city has also caused worries more gaming workers could be left unemployed.
The President of the Macau Association of Gaming and Entertainment Promoters, Kwok Chi Chung, has indicated recently to have received information that six to eight satellite casinos are expected to cease operations by the end of June, either due to unfavourable business conditions or the new gaming law changes.
Local labour authorities have already expressed that the gaming concessionaire whose license is linked to the satellite casino is responsible for assuring the employment of the casino workers impacted.
Chao stated to MNA that she has received some letters from satellite casino employees indicating that they had received news where they hoped after any closure they could be reassigned or transferred to another department of the involved gaming operator.
” I didn’t know the situation of the employees recruited by the satellite casino itself, only know the situation of the employees employed by gaming concessionaires. However, I think that although there were no complaints about salary reduction at this stage, it is because the employee has not really changed jobs,” she noted
“After any job change, I believe that part of the salary may be reduced. For example, the salary of dealers now is about MOP20,000 (US$2,473) to MOP30,000, after the job change, his/ her salary may be reduced by MOP2,000 or MOP3,000. Although there have been no job transfers yet, we already know the probable result”.
The association head indicated that it is known what would happen if the employees decide not to reassign to other positions with lower pay as it is still under discussion, but the decision will always be according to the consent of the worker at this stage.
“Everyone is waiting for the government to introduce relevant policies, because in a week or two, it will be the day to issue gaming licenses, and after the gaming concessionaires get their gaming licenses, they may give employees a pay cut,” she warned.
“We have already known that this situation may last for two or three years, all employees in the gaming industry, hotels and related industries have expressed great concern and think the problem is very serious”
