No consensus on contribution ratio of social fund

Social Security Fund (FSS) president Ip Peng Kun said that representatives of the bosses and the workers still disagree on the contribution ratio of the fund that the sides have to pay respectively.
Mr. Ip told reporters yesterday after a meeting of the Standing Committee for the Coordination of Social Affairs that the representatives of employers and employees have not reached consensus on the proportions, despite the fact that both of the sides agree on the government’s suggestion to raise the contribution of the fund from the current 45 patacas per employee per month to 90 patacas from July this year.
“[Both of sides] perceive that the hike to 90 patacas is acceptable.
Nevertheless, the employers reckon if the proportions of contribution are not to change, they will not agree… However, they do not agree to change the proportions,” Mr. Ip said.
Currently, the proportions of the employers and the employees contributing to the funds are two-thirds and one-third of the total, respectively. Hence, once the amount of the contribution is to be lifted to 90 patacas, the employers would pay 60 patacas instead of 30 patacas and the employee would pay 30 patacas instead of 15 patacas.
According to Mr. Ip, the employers insisted that the government should change such proportions to half-half while employees perceive that the proportions should remain at the current level.
Representative of the employers, Vong Kok Seng, who is vice-president of the Macau Chamber of Commerce, said that that the employees should bear the same social responsibility as employers do.
“We have been supporting what we can do to fulfil the social responsibilities so that we did not oppose the hike in contributions,” he said. “However, such social responsibilities should not be only afforded by the employers, but both employers and employees. In addition, the social responsibilities that employees bear should not be less than that of the employers, as the employers will not receive back the [contribution] that they pay, while the employees are the final beneficiaries.”
According to the FSS head, the final proposal of the amendments – the amount of the hike and the contribution ratio – will be decided by the Committee.