GGRAsia – Melco Resorts adding staff tips to provident fund mix

Melco Resorts adding staff tips to provident fund mix

Aug 27, 2018 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

Asian casino developer Melco Resorts and Entertainment Ltd says it is to introduce “in coming months” a new system regarding its contribution toward provident fund payments for its Macau non-management staff.

The firm said the new system was the result of a consultation process that had been going on since the beginning of the year. One Macau labour group claimed the casino firm had previously been dragging its heels.

Earlier this month a protest picket on the issue was held outside the firm’s City of Dreams Macau resort (pictured in a file photo), organised by the New Macau Gaming Staff Rights Association – formerly known as Professional for Gaming of New Macau. That group also delivered a petition on the matter to Government Headquarters in mid-August.

Melco Resorts said in a Friday press release the proposed new system for its employee contributions to the Macau-government organised provident fund would involve Melco Resorts providing contributions that would be calculated based on up to 5 percent of base salary, plus an employee’s guaranteed tips if applicable.

The firm further stated that it would award a “one-time special gift of one month salary to eligible Macau non-management employees upon completion of the process related to their participation in the new pension fund plan, subject to further applicable terms and conditions”.

Melco Resorts said the new employer contribution system would be “implemented in the coming months and payment of the one-time special gift to eligible employees, if applicable, is expected to be made on or about the end of October 2018”.

The announcement did not specify what was the previous percentage of base salary contributed by the firm. But several labour groups had been complaining that tips had been excluded by the casino operator – a practice New Macau Gaming Staff Rights Association said had been “discontinued” by other Macau casino firms since “2014 or 2015”.

Melco Resorts said on Friday: “This review has been in progress since the beginning of this year and was developed listening to employees through the company’s regular focus groups and other direct channels, which have been implemented since May 2014.”

A fortnight ago Melco Resorts said in an emailed statement to GGRAsia that it had been talking to the long-established Macau Federation of Trade Unions (FAOM) as well as the Macau Gaming Enterprises Staff’s Association (MGESA) about the issue.

In a posting on that point, New Macau Gaming Staff Rights Association had claimed the firm had been selective regarding to which labour groupings it spoke.

Nonetheless Melco Resorts said in its Friday release that “from January 2018 alone,” 144 communication sessions were held. “This is in addition to table games employees’ global survey conducted every six months since May 2012. We have also been in close communication with relevant Macau SAR government departments,” stated the casino operator.