Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | November 2010 38 Macau Policy D uring most of the four decades of Dr Stanley Ho’s casino monopoly, Macau was known for having a pliant if somewhat grumpy workforce. Now it seems to have a grumpy self- satisfied one. Street demonstrations against imported labour first seen in Macau four years ago may have set off a chain reaction over civil and labour rights that could influence the territory’s casino market for years to come. That could have long-term implications for the project costs and operational overheads faced by Macau’s casino operators and their investors. Some of this could simply be Macau growing up as a community. The more educated and the more financially secure a society becomes, the more likely its members are to argue the toss over their labour and civil rights. It could also, however, be a result of ‘favourite child’ syndrome. Most of the recent media coverage on labour in Macau has focused on the construction worker issue. But a new government ordinance, the Imported Labour Law that came into effect on 26th April, could have a much more long-term influence on the rest of the labour market. It appears to institutionalise further the legal protections for resident employees, who now know they virtually have to set a bomb off in the workplace to get the sack. Out with the old Under the new law, non-resident workers can be and are being dropped at short notice, getting only ten days notice to quit Macau and being barred from returning within six months. Under the previous regulatory system, a sacked or released migrant worker had the possibility of staying on in Macau if he or she could find a new job. The old system also had the virtue of clarity and simplicity. Everyone knew that (with the recent exception of construction), two locals had to be hired for every imported staffer. The new ordinance instead gives officials discretion to allocate migrant workers on an industry-by-industry basis, and then further discretion to vary the mix on a company-by-company basis. While in theory this might seem fairer in addressing the particular needs of a particular business, it is likely to be fantastically cumbersome and bureaucratic, not to mention totally lacking in transparency. It means, in effect, that the migrant labour policy is whatever the government says it is on any given day of the week. That opens up endless potential for score settling with any employers rocking the boat, or favouritism toward any employers deemed as ‘important’ or well connected. The net effect is likely to be that it becomes so tiresome and drawn out to hire outsiders that companies will suck up even Feathered Nest Macau’s resident workers can do little wrong in the eyes of the government Quick exit—guest workers are easily shown the door