About 1,000 people have gathered in Macau on Sunday to protest against a new, voluntary scheme regarding enjoyment of public mandatory holidays. The scheme is being proposed by the local government as part of a wider revision to the city’s Labor Relations Law. The strike was organized by the local activist group New Macau Gambling Staff Rights Association.
Despites, it´s unclear if all those protesting were workers in the gambling industry. The proposed new scheme is to be applied to all people in Macau working in the private sector and would make it possible for the employee to choose to designate three mandatory holidays as normal work days.
The employee would then be able to select three non-mandatory holidays as effectively “mandatory” leave.
Mandatory holidays usually include festivals important in Chinese culture and are times when friends and family are also likely to be on leave.
Protesters demanded that the new public holiday scheme to be dropped. And that Christmas should become a mandatory holiday and urged the government to increase the statutory minimum number of weekly rest days for workers from one to two days.
The current terms of the Labour Relations Law, states that those employees paid by the month and that are required to work on a mandatory holiday should be entitled to receive an additional day’s basic remuneration on top of their monthly pay, plus a compensatory rest day designated by the employer within 30 days following the performance of work.
Macau’s six casino operators reportedly pledged to the Macau government not to force employees into accepting the scheme, since they were scared of working on mandatory holidays.
