Macau

Mayday in Macau marks violent mass protest

Macao’s economy has soared in the last three years and its government sees the rising GDP, 28% and 6.7% growth in 2004 and 2005 respectively, as evidence of good governance. Indeed many conservative and pro-Beijing commentators in Hong Kong are calling upon Hong Kong society to emulate Macau’s recent economic success and its distinct lack of civil unrest and ignore current call for democracy in Hong Kong by a large proportion of the population. However the recent march on 1 May appears to mark the start of a shift in Macau politics and the growing unrest at what many see as increasing riches for the few and a disregard for the many.

Much of the recent economic growth is coming from the massive influx of new foreign casinos to Macau after the local gaming ownership and control laws were relaxed. There is a boom in construction – of casinos, hotels and related facilities. Despite increasing protests the Macao SAR Government continues to import cheap labour from mainland China and Southeast Asia. Local workers say that the government is playing down local unemployment and that the reported figures for unemployment are inaccurate. There have been numerous calls for more regulation in the importation of foreign labour as many companies are reportedly bypassing regulations on wage levels and contracts and hiring cheap or illegal workers. Discontent finally broke out on 1 May 2006, when several thousands workers joined a May Day Rally and clashed with police when trying to reach the government headquarters to express their demands for more effective policing of illegal workers and a limitation on imported workers, making it the biggest protest since 2 July 2000, when police used tear gas to dispense workers protesting against unemployment.

In a statement reminiscent of the Chinese central authorities, the local Macau police released a statement blaming "troublemakers" for stirring up the crowd during the demonstration and pledging to crackdown on "those disrupting social order under the disguise of peaceful demonstrations" in the future.

Eight organizations, including the Association for Promoting Livelihood in Macau (澳門民生協進會), the Association for Promoting Livelihood of Workers in Macau (澳門職工民心協進會), the Labour Union of Macau (澳門職工聯盟), the Mutual Help Association for Construction Workers in Macau (澳門三行工友互助會), the Decoration Workers' Association of Macau (澳門裝修業職工會), the Concrete Sector Workers' Association of Macau (澳門混凝土業職工會), the Cleaners' Association of Macau (澳門清潔員職工會), and the Property Management Workers' Association of Macau (澳門物業管理職工會) have organized the May Day march and pro democratic independent legislators Ng Kuok Cheong (吳國昌), Au Kam San (區錦新) and José Pereira Coutinho were present at the scene to mediate the rally and later, the conflict.

The pro-Beijing Federation of Trade Unions, like its counterpart in Hong Kong (the HKFTU) stayed away from the march.

The marchers addressed a petition to Macau Chief Executive Edmund Ho which accused the government of corruption and of collusion with business, which they said had led to excessive labour importation and the hiring of illegal workers. One union spokesman also questioned the authenticity of the 3.9 per cent jobless rate as published by the government arguing that the real rate is more like 4.5 percent and the difference in numbers was caused by the government counting imported workers in the workforce.

Many marchers focused their grievances on the casino sector mogul Stanley Ho Hung-sun, his wife Angela Leong On-kei (who is a member of the Legislative Committee and was recently accused of vote rigging) and key government officials.

The majority of the protesters were middle-aged, many jobless and angry over the rise in imported workers and alleged collusion between government officials and big business. According to one newspaper some protestors were also calling for universal suffrage and greater democracy. The South China Morning Post reported; "I am only demanding a fair chance to survive," said marcher Fong Chio-weng, 52. Mr Fong, the only breadwinner in a family of five, who said he had lost his full-time job to imported construction workers, and earned less than 5,000 patacas a month as a temporary construction worker.
It is reported that protestors quarreled with police officers over the marching route, which did not include Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro, the busiest street at the city center, and scattered clashes were seen almost immediately after the march began. Protestors attempted to march through the city center on their way to government headquarters, but were stopped by the police. Once the protestors forced their ways towards the city center, police told shopkeepers and pedestrians at Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro to close their doors and stay away from the protestors. Affected shops at the city centre were reopened later that same evening and shopkeepers told Macau's terrestrial TDM-TV that the rally had been peaceful, but they closed their doors not only because police officers told them, but also out of fear of looting.

After handing in a petition letter to a government representative, about 500 protestors went on to stage sit in at the central junction between the Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro and Avenida do Infante D. Henrique. Traffic was then blocked and police started carrying the protestors away one by one. Three men and a woman were arrested for refusing to leave. Other members of the crowd voluntarily dispersed at around 6.30 in the evening.

Organizers claimed that 5,000 people took part in the march, although Acting Chief Commander of the Public Security Police (PSP), Lei Sio Peng (李小平) told reporters that their initial estimate was 1,500 – no final figures were given. The PSP later claimed that equipment belong to 36 officers was damaged during the protest and 25 police officers were injured in the conflict with a total of 450 police being deployed. The number of protesters hurt was not known.

Although legislators Ng Kuok Cheong and José Pereira Coutinho both expressed regret over the radical moves taken by some protestors, they pointed out that the action reflects the increasing grievances among local workers. They said that the Government should no longer ignore this issue and urged it to take immediate and appropriate measures to meet workers’ demands.

In an interview with Macao Daily News and other local media, Kwan Tsui Hang, the Vice-President of the Board of Directors of the General Association of Trades Union in Macau (AGOM), claimed that the rally was to pressure the government to act in response to the growing sense of a “crisis of confidence” by workers in the Macau government. She reported that there have been no measures taken to protect the rights of local labour while increasing the importation of foreign workers. She also repeated the main demands of the rally which were to increase transparency and fairness in regulatory mechanisms and to ensure proper monitoring of the importation of labour in order to ensure that the rights and wages of local workers were not negatively affected.

The four Macau residents arrested in the march were transferred to the Macau Public Prosecutions Office on 2 May and later released due to lack of evidence against them. However, they may still face charges of attacking police and disrupting public order, depending on new evidence provided by the police.

Background

Despite the prospering gaming industry and numerous new construction projects, in fact, the average Macanese’s livelihood has not improved in the last few years, not even for employees in the gaming and construction industries. The main reason is that Macau, with a population of only 450,000, has a very loose labour import scheme. Macau has imported 42,500 legal labourers, these include 23,139 from the mainland, 6,149 from Hong Kong and 5,511 from the Philippines. The number of illegal workers is estimated to be at least a further 40,000. The high percentage of foreign labour is eroding the bargaining power of local residents to improve working conditions and increase wages. This is even true in the boom industry of gaming where a recent survey showed that a local casino worker’s current actual income of is only 70 percent to 80 percent of the salary paid in 2001.

The Macau authorities occasionally carry out crackdowns on illegal workers at factories and construction sites, but according to the General Secretary of the Labour Union of Macau, most of the construction sites are informed in advance of the crackdown and given enough time for employers to hide the illegal workers.

The growing gaming industry and tourism has also led to serious inflation in the last couple of years, especially on the property market and rental, leaving many of the local workers find it difficult to make ends meet.

Therefore, in the last few months, local workers in Macau have organized several protests. In mid-February 2006, about 100 grooms working for the Macau Jockey Club protested and sought help at the Labour Affairs Bureau. Most of the grooms complained that the employer had yet to fulfill the pledges agreed in their contracts and were not paid adequate year-end bonuses and salaries. Many local horse workers are also facing transfers or job suspensions even as foreign workers are increasingly imported. More recently on 12 April 2006, more than 1,000 workers and union members joined a rally against importation of foreign workers.

IHLO
May 2006

Back...