The threat of a strike by casino workers during the popular Golden Week holiday may have been the last straw for the Macau government, and now four labor leaders are under investigation by police.
Cloee Chao, a floor supervisor at Wynn Macau and single mother of two, said she submitted to questioning on 10th September after police phoned her parents looking for her. She told Bloomberg the questioning was related to an accusation that she breached a police cordon during a 25th August demonstration by dealers and other front-line workers outside the Grand Lisboa.
Ms Chao is a founder of two unofficial labor groups, Macau Gaming Industry Frontline Workers and Forefront of Macau Gaming, which have led a series of public protests this year by casino workers demanding pay raises and improvements in working conditions and promotion policies they say are arbitrary and unfair.
Fellow activists Ieong Man Teng, Lei Kuok Keong and Ung Kim Ip also have been questioned by police in connection with the August demonstration, according to Bloomberg and the South China Morning Post, and informed they face the same charge as Ms Chao—“aggravated disobedience”.
“I feel intimidated,” said Ms Chao, who denies the accusation. “It’s a warning and a threat to me.”
Reports by Bloomberg and the Post said charges have not yet been filed against the four but confirmed that an investigation is under way.
Led by Ms Chao and Messrs Ieong, Lei and Ung workers have taken to the streets on at least eight occasions this year, targeting Sands China, Galaxy Entertainment Group and SJM individually and the industry as a whole. MGM China joined the list this week as the subject of a complaint Forefront of Macau Gaming made to the Labour Affairs Bureau.
SJM has been targeted by three separate demonstrations and on the eve of Chief Executive Chui Sai On’s re-election last month was hit with a work slowdown and sick-out at its flagship Grand Lisboa. It was the first job action ever taken against the company founded by casino tycoon Stanley Ho and still controlled by his family.
Relations between front-line staff and SJM management do not appear to have improved since, and workers are demanding three-way talks with government involved. Recently, labor leaders said workers might strike at Grand Lisboa during Golden Week, which commences on 1st October and is one of the busiest times of the year for gambling and tourism in Macau.
Last month, five democracy activists were arrested in connection with their roles in organizing an unofficial referendum on the performance of Mr Chui. The central government’s local liaison office declared the poll illegal, and police shut down the voting stations.
In July, the University of St Joseph fired a lecturer known for his outspoken political views, and the University of Macau suspended an associate professor of political science who serves as vice president of New Macau Association, a pan-democrat group.
Mr Chui was awarded a second five-year term on 31st August by a select committee dominated by the city’s mostly pro-Beijing business elites and which includes casino representatives.
