Macau government employees are likely to receive a pay rise in what one analyst says is an effort by staff to take advantage of any largesse surrounding the chief executive election.
Macau's legislature is reviewing a bill that gives pay rises to government workers of different ranks, with senior employees, such as bureau heads, expected to get a bump of 8 to 12 per cent. A legislature committee will meet government representatives tomorrow to discuss the bill.
The legislature will also consider another bill to increase teachers' salaries. For the past week, educators have been calling on the government to subsidise private-school teachers.
Nurses are set to receive pay increases of between 3 and 43 per cent, or more than 20 per cent on average, after lawmakers gave in-principle approval for a bill on their salaries last month.
Police officers, whose pay rose about 30 per cent in 2007, are also asking for greater benefits. The Association of Macau Police Personnel held a press conference on May 17 demanding more cash for overtime.
Larry So Man-yum, a professor at the School of Public Administration at the Macau Polytechnic Institute, said it was no coincidence that the calls for pay rises came ahead of the chief executive poll, set for July 26, and the city's legislative election, scheduled for September.
