Secretary for Economy and Finance Francis Tam Pak Yuen said Monday he expected the city’s first bill setting up a statutory minimum wage to be submitted to the Legislative Assembly (AL) next month.
Tam made the remark on the sidelines of a public event when he was asked by reporters about the bill.
The government has proposed the statutory minimum wage for the city’s cleaners and doormen employed by property management companies to be set at 28 patacas per hour.
However, the proposal drew an outcry by the city’s trade unions and civic leaders. The influential Macau Federation of Trade Union (AGOM, commonly known as Gung Luen) says that it is dissatisfied with the government’s proposal and insists that it should be set at 30 patacas per hour. AGOM has three lawmakers in the legislature.
Talking to reporters, Tam said that the drafting of the bill was “basically” completed and the government was now reviewing the draft.
“The draft will be submitted to the legislature for discussion soon…we’ll do our best to submit the bill to the legislature in June,” Tam said.
The policy secretary also said the government would consider including workers from other sectors in the bill but it had
to do everything one step at a time.(macaunews/macaupost)
