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Civil servants get a boost from survey report
By Teddy Ng (HK Edition)

A government-established committee's pay trend survey suggested that civil servants could get a pay rise of up to 5.59 percent.

The pay trend survey report released by the Pay Trend Survey Committee, which reflected the pay trend in 91 companies covering 144.901 employees from April 2, 2006 to April 1, 2007, suggested that civil servants earning below HK$14,330 a month could get 4.28 percent pay hike.

Civil servants with middle salary band, from HK$14,330 to HK$43,940 a month, could earn 5.24 percent more, while those in upper salary band, from HK$43,941 to HK$87,430 per month, could get a pay hike of 5.59 percent.

However, a Civil Service Bureau spokesman said the net increase would be reduced to 3.91 percent for lower salary band, 4.62 percent for middle salary band, and 4.96 percent for upper salary band after deducting the cost of increments paid to civil servants in the 2006-07 financial year.

The spokesman said the increase indicators were tentative and would be subject to the Pay Trend Survey Committee validation.

The spokesman said the Chief Executive in Council would decide if the civil service's pay should be adjusted and the rates of adjustment for 2007-08 financial year having considered other factors, including the government's fiscal position, changes in the cost of living, civil service morale and staff sides' pay claims.

The adjustment would need to be approved by the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council.

The spokesman said the bureau hoped the adjustment could be tabled to the LegCo by July.

Civil servants have suffered three pay cuts since 1997: 1.58 to 4.42 per cent in October 2002, three per cent on January 1, 2004 and another three per cent on January 1, 2005.

Welcoming the suggestion, Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants Association vice president Li Kwai-yin said that civil servants' morale had nosedived in recent years because of the pay cut and increased workload.

Local Inspector Association chairman Liu Kit-ming said civil servants' pay had been slashed by more than 10 percent for three times after Hong Kong's reunification with the motherland.

He expressed hope that the government would increase their pay accordingly.

Federation of Civil Service Unions chairman Leung Chau-ting also hailed the pay survey report. "This is a positive news for us. We hope that our pay will keep increasing during the economic recovery in the next two years. The increase for lower salary band civil servants should be higher than those in higher bands," he said.

Hong Kong Senior Government Officers Association chairman Poon Wai-ming said the suggestion was appropriate.

Confederation of Trade Unions legislator Lee Cheuk-yan said the adjustment rate of the lower salary bands should not be less than the middle salary band to make up for the income gap between civil servants.

Human resources expert So Wai-chung, however, said the salary increase should not be over 5 percent.

The pay rise for those in private sector usually ranged between 4 and 5 percent, he added.

(HK Edition 05/22/2007 page6)