The Executive Council in Council today (5th) approved the civil service salary increase plan, with a flat rate of 2.5% for high-, middle- and low-level civil servants. Later, they will meet with staff representatives for discussion and the final decision will be made at the meeting.
The labor sector and civil servants unions are generally disappointed with the plan, criticizing it as a deviation from the existing mechanism and the government's inability to explain how the 2.5% level was achieved.
Some trade unions even described that the government has not considered five of the six major considerations for civil servants' salary adjustment.
AFL approves decision to deviate from mechanism still behind inflation
AFL Legislative Councillors Zhou Xiaosong and Lin Zhensheng regret the adjustment rate and believe that the decision deviates from the mechanism. Even if the salary level of civil servants is raised again after two years of salary freeze, the rate of increase is still far behind inflation, which greatly affects the lives of employees. level, I hope the final decision can be adjusted again.
Zhou Xiaosong believes that this salary increase decision will have a certain impact on the morale of civil servants. The survey results of civil servant salary trends show that the net salary indicators of middle and low-level civil servants are 4.55% and 2.04%. In the past, it was customary to follow the higher ones. The salary adjustment, but this time it is off the target, and proposed a 2.5% salary increase, which is puzzling and disappointing.
He questioned that the decision did not take into account five of the six major factors, including changes in the cost of living, the government's financial situation, staff-side requirements for salary adjustments, civil service morale and net salary trend indicators, and even violated these five Factors, in fact or only taking into account the economic situation, make the salary increase relatively low.
Zhou added that in recent years, the society's grievances against the government have increased greatly due to the government's ineffective anti-epidemic and ineffective governance. The public has projected their dissatisfaction on civil servants. This time the civil servants' salary increase has triggered a certain degree of social repercussions, making the civil servants' salary increase a political decision. , is not suitable.
Lin Zhensheng believes that the salary of civil servants has been frozen for two years, and the salary has basically "underperformed" inflation. Among the more than 180,000 civil servants, about 30% have reached the maximum salary, so they have not increased their salary every year, reducing their purchasing power and livelihood. Even if the salary increase this year, the magnitude has not been able to catch up with the continuous inflation, and it is a "reduction of labor" in disguise.
He said that he regretted the decision to raise wages this time, which not only failed to protect the purchasing power of civil servants' wages, but also undoubtedly damaged the morale of civil servants.
Liang Choting: Take away and bury our grain and grass
Leung Chiu-ting, director-general of the Civil Service Union Federation, bluntly said that he was "dissatisfied with the range".
He pointed out that he can understand that the salary of senior civil servants will not be increased to 7.6%. Therefore, he also proposed to the authorities earlier that the salary increase of civil servants at all levels should be flattened, but he believes that the flat rate should be "in the middle" to 4%.
He said frankly that his colleagues felt an uproar when they learned of the 2.5% salary increase, and said, "Isn't it right?"
Leung Chiu-ting continued to point out that during the anti-epidemic period, civil servants have "contributed the most", and the distribution of supplies to areas is not within the scope of civil servants' work, and the government should be more sympathetic.
He said: "There is no reason for the horses to be good, and the horses not to eat grass. The family members have to take away and bury the grain and grass."
The Secretary for the Civil Service, Yeung Ho Pei-yin, believes that the work of civil servants is stable, so she is not worried that this decision will lead to brain drain.
He pointed out that the work of civil servants is "stable and stable, and there is no reason to not have enough food." He revealed that many colleagues have reported to him that the salary increase plan "would hurt colleagues' hearts." The salary increase is insufficient and it is difficult to attract young people to join the job, so it cannot be ruled out that it will exacerbate the brain drain, and I will express my opinion to the government later.
Fung Chuan-chung: The increase in deviation from the target is "lip service but not real" to civil servants
Fung Chuan-chung, chairman of the Civil Service Federation of Trade Unions, believes that the range proposed this time is "completely unacceptable and unreasonable." He pointed out that the government did not follow the results of the salary trend survey, and was unable to respond when asked by reporters how to arrive at the 2.5% figure. , people have several negative perceptions: First, they are unwilling to invest resources in reasonable salary increases for civil servants; second, they are too mean to civil servants; and third, they are inclined to the business sector.
In particular, the Secretary stated at the press conference that he clearly agreed with the important role and performance of civil servants in the governance of the SAR, but finally came to a range that was too low and unexplainable.
Fung Chuan-chung emphasized that as a civil servant, the natural initial intention is to participate in public services and let the public feel the new atmosphere of good governance and good governance. Therefore, no matter what the pay adjustment result is, the enthusiasm for the work of civil servants will not diminish. However, he reminded the government that the increase in civil service pay is not conducive to the overall economy of Hong Kong. It has an obvious stimulating effect. If the welfare of the civil servants is compromised due to temporary pressure from the business community, it is actually a "lose-lose" situation for the government and the business community.
Feng: At least follow the standard of intermediate civil servants
He pointed out that he would write a letter later and try to meet the Secretary with other civil servant organizations to express his views on the decision of the guild. He hoped that the government would clearly explain how the 2.5% margin was obtained, listen to the opinions humbly, and make a notable decision on the margin. "If you really want to make the same adjustments, at least it will be the same as the range of mid-level civil servants (4.55%), right?"
Li Fangchong, chairman of the Hong Kong Senior Civil Servants Association, said that he will discuss with the government later, but because the discussion has become politicized, he will not respond publicly.
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