Legislative Assembly vetoed Union Basic Right Law

Legislative Assembly vetoed Union Basic Right Law

by Anni Lam

The Legislative Assembly yesterday vetoed the proposal to legislate the “Trade Union Basic Right Law”, acknowledged “Trade Union Law” as the assemblyman panel and concluded that it is not the ripen time for such a bill.

A comprehensive public consultation on the matter is required and the current term of the assembly does not have adequate time to carry out further deliberated discussions for the law.

Lawmaker José Pereira Coutinho presented the proposal again to the Legislative Assembly, stating the reason to urge the implementation of the law is because he believes that general labour associations do not have the legitimacy to represent workers for labour affairs disputes and having the law will enabled the union to be the bridging platform to foster communication between employers and employees.

However, the proposal has been reproached by several lawmakers such as Tsui Wai Kwan, Chan Chak Mo and Leong Heng Teng as they pointed out that the proposal was cursory and ambiguous, and there were too many contentious items.

Tsui said that the law is inclined to be destructive as he thinks that the law will engage the union to have rights to convoke workers to go on strike, and that could create detriment to the whole the industry.

Also he added that he thinks the law will aggravate the disagreement between the two parties and create the uneasiness to the business sectors if the law was not properly regulated.

Chan's point of view was quite akin to Tusi's arguments and continued to say that he does not agree with the establishment of the union could reduce the friction or mistrust between the two parties.

He went on to say that there are too many ambivalences in it and commented that the proposal was hasty.

“I hope that the detail of the law could be clear and lucid before we cast the favourable vote, as we don't want to dissipate time on something that has no substantial foundation.”

And Leong disagreed with the proposal saying that associations and Labour Affairs Bureau did not put efforts into mediate labour disputes.
He added that he “principally agrees with the legislation of the Union Law. However, there are too many befuddlement in the lawmaker's proposal.”

Countinho held on his ground and refuted that the union would have rights to force workers to go on strikes against their own wills, and added that the “collective negotiation” and “Law of strikes” were not included in the bill as currently these are impossible to be regulated in the same legislation.

“I hope to have an union which can represent labours to fight for justice in the labour dispute without any worries of receiving retaliations afterwards,” he said.

Lawmaker Kwan Tsui Hang, Ng Kuok Cheong and Au Kam San buttressed Countinho's proposal and expressed that he thinks the government did not put enough effort to make a legislative foundation for the law.

They said that the law has been broached almost for ten years, even though it has been raised for three times at the Legislative Assembly, all of which were vetoed.

The assemblyman panel yesterday presented 24 lawmakers, among which seven cast favourable votes, eight were veto and nine were discarded.

Saturday, 04 April 2009
Macau Daily Times