Macau, a Portuguese enclave for more than 400 years, will return to Chinese sovereignty in 1999. It has an estimated population of over 400,000. 1997 was a difficult year. Public confidence was severely imperiled by Triad-related violence and the small city has recently become notorious for street shooting and bombings which have driven tourists away and paralysed the Macau economy. For many years, Macau's manufacturing industry has been declining although entrepreneurs have adopted labor-intensive production methods. Hence, local enterprises try to maintain high profits by exploiting cheap migrant workers. Under such circumstances, local workers cannot share the fruits of economic growth and are the first victims of cutbacks when the economy declines. Due to economic depression or the use of imported labor by employers, many local workers are unemployed or underemployed.
In 1995, migrant workers in Macau made up more than 20% of the labor force. Employment of local workers was adversely affected. In the face of fierce criticism by local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the Macau government suspended the importation of labor in June 1995. In 1997, however, following the request of local businesses, the government reintroduced labor importation on the pretext of lower unemployment rates. The government first opened the textile and garment industries for labor importation. The industries, in turn, submitted countless applications, which anticipated imports of more than 16,700 workers totally. This aroused strong objections by local NGOs. They organized a series of activities against the no-quota import labor policy. Initially, the government planned to approve the first labor importation to Macau in September 1997, but in the face of fierce criticism, the application has hitherto not been approved.
Migrant workers in Macau have also been facing severe conditions while local workers become unemployed or underemployed. In fact, many migrant workers are also underemployed. They are seriously exploited; some of them are forced to work in the underground economy because there are no real jobs offered by employers.
For the sake of economic well-being and labor rights, the New Macau Society is strongly opposed to the no-quota labor importation scheme. We also realize that the interests of both local workers and migrant workers are not necessarily in conflict with each other. We understand that we protect the rights of employment of local workers if we fight against unjust exploitation of migrant workers and fight for better working conditions for them. It is unacceptable that Macau's labor laws do not protect migrant workers when they are so easily abused and exploited.
For such problems, the New Macau Society has taken up two projects. The first is on legislation. In April 1997, the society drafted the Job Facilitation Bill. It was tabled as a formal bill at the Macau Legislature by legislator Ng Kuok Cheong.
Many articles of the Bill were related to migrant labor, such as the proposal to limit migrant numbers and their length of stay in Macau. But most importantly, the Bill proposed that migrant workers should also be protected by Macau's Labour Relations Ordinance. However, legislators from the business sector seriously attacked the Bill, and it was eventually defeated in the Legislature in July 1997 by a margin of 11 to 4. This makes it very difficult to protect employment of local workers and provide basic rights to migrant workers through legislation. But we never give up.
In September 1997, legislator Ng Kuok Cheong submitted the Regulation of the Importation of Labour Bill. The Bill states clearly, "The import labor policies must be for the purpose of releasing the shortage of specific human resources or facilitating the growth of Macau economy. The prerequisite of the import labor policies must be a strong protection of employment and benefits of local workers."
The Bill also clearly defines the ceiling on imported labor and classifies the different industries and prioritizes different jobs eligible for labor importation. For protection of the basic rights of the migrant workers, Chapter IV of the Bill (on the treatment of migrant workers) states:
1. Imported labor shall be protected by the Ordinance of Labour Relations, including overtime and maternity benefits.
2. Imported labor shall be protected by specific regulations on the minimum standard wages.
3. The institutions which are approved for labor importation shall:
* directly or indirectly guarantee imported labor suitable accommodation;
* provide each migrant worker not less than 3.4 sq. m. if accommodations are provided;
* not charge imported labor more than 10% of their income if accommodation are provided;
* charge nothing if meals are provided;
* assume the medical expenses of imported labor directly;
* assume the expenses of industrial accidents and occupational diseases of imported labor;
* assume the expenses of transporting imported labor to their homeland.
4. Imported labor shall have the right to manage their own personal identification, documents, including their working documents.
5. The recognized institutions for importing labor shall guarantee migrant workers to have contracts for their jobs.
6. For any complaints about violations of Articles 1-5 of [Chapter IV], the recognized institutions for importing labor shall arrange immediately for workers to report to their grievances to the departments concerned.
Chapter 6 of the Bill (on the minimum standard wage) also states:
1. The documents for the importation of labor shall state the minimum standard wage of workers concerned.
2. The said minimum standard shall take reference of the medium wages of the works and the industries concerned in Macau.
The crucial point of the Bill is that any violation of the regulations is a criminal offense. Its harsh punishments to violators is intended to halt the exploitation of migrant workers. The Bill will be tabled to the legislature. Unfortunately, one-third of the legislators in the Macau Legislature are officially appointed members, and the majority of the rest come from various business sectors which prioritize their own interests. However, because the Bill will threatens the interests of such people in the legislature, it is likely to be turned down. However, in order to stop the exploitation of workers and to indirectly defend local workers' jobs, we must fight persistently through legislation for the protection of the basic rights of migrant workers.
Due to loose monitoring of labor importation, labor agencies severely exploit migrant workers. Besides legislation efforts, the New Macau Society has also sent petition letters to the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China, the Foreign Trade Ministry, the Office of Hong Kong and Macao, the State Council, and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, to expose these problems. We also demanded that the Chinese State Council pass the "Regulations of Management of Labor Cooperation with Macau," which clearly states contract regulations and punishment for any violations thereof. Moreover, we also demanded that for easy monitoring, the Foreign Trade Ministry publicize the list of labor agencies that are approved to process labor exportation to Macau. The petition letters were sent to the said departments in September 1997, but no reply has hitherto reached us. We will actively follow this issue.
This report was written by Au Kam Sun (New Macao Society, Macau) and submitted at the Conference on Chinese Migrant Workers' Rights, January 11-14, 1998, Macau.