Macau casino workers took to the street last Monday to demand a 5 percent pay hike in 2017.
An estimated 200-300 people took part in the demonstration, organized by a grassroots group called Professionals for Gaming of New Macau.
“We’re calling for a salary hike for not only the table game workers, but also the rest of the casino employees,” said the group’s president, Cloee Chao.
“We are demonstrating at this time because this month is when the gaming companies conclude their earnings for the whole (prior calendar) year. And usually, if they do have any plan to raise their salaries, they would announce it around the time of Chinese New Year,” she said.
In November the group appealed directly to the Macau government for the raises, which the group says are needed to offset rising living costs on the autonomously governed Chinese peninsula.
Chao says that of Macau’s six casino operators only Sands China announced a pay increase for qualifying staff in 2016.
She said, “We’ll collect signatures from our gaming worker members to back the pay hike call again if we still do not hear any news about it after Chinese New Year. We’ll even initiate a bigger action. What we mean by this bigger action is that we might express our call via demonstrating at the casinos here.”
A separate group, the Macau Gaming Enterprises Staff’s Association, which is affiliated with the influential Macau Federation of Trade Unions, has also called for a pay hike of 5-7 percent for casino workers for 2017.
Chao’s group also is calling on the territorial legislature to pass a law recognizing the legal right of trade unions to represent workers and authorize strikes.
