9.21

 

无语，要减薪。

 

香港的官员和香港人，笨得总是相信所谓的市场。人民公仆，怎么能老是和市场论价，还煞有介事地相信所谓外判公司做的研究报告，结果是，赶不上形势的变化。这就叫做“作茧自缚、作法自毙。”我就不信香港的研究公司的水平能达到挑不出毛病的地步。至少，在私有部门， 没有和特首一样的职位，也没有大学教授吧？

 

Civil service unions will make a last-ditch attempt to halt a proposed 5.38 per cent pay cut for high-ranking officials after the chief executive decided to spare the rank-and-file but not their senior colleagues.

Possible counter-offers by unions include postponing the cut until next year, introducing a 3 per cent or 4.79 per cent cut, or a blanket pay freeze for all civil servants.

Although some unionists have threatened industrial action and legal steps over the cuts, most conceded that rising political pressure would make them inevitable.

Speaking after an Executive Council meeting, Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen proposed that more than 18,700 senior officials earning more than $48,401 per month would have their pay reduced. Some 136,000 staff would be spared.

The proposed cut would save taxpayers HK$2.1 billion a year, taking into account consequential cuts expected for civil service counterparts in subvented bodies like welfare agencies and schools.

The Civil Service Bureau said middle- and lower-ranking bureaucrats were spared a cut because the pay trend survey found levels of pay cuts received by their private-sector equivalents were not significant.

The survey, which serves as an indicator for civil service pay levels, found private-sector wages had dropped 0.17 per cent for lower-paid staff, 1.34 per cent in the mid-range and 4.79 per cent for high earners. The pay cut implications for civil servants in the lower, middle and upper bands were 0.96 per cent, 1.98 per cent and 5.38 per cent.

Several unions, including the Senior Government Officers Association, are planning to oppose the most recent proposal. Association chairman So Ping-chi said cutting pay for senior officials while freezing adjustments for the rank-and-file will cause divisions and damage civil service morale. We hope to negotiate a solution, rather than having unilateral decisions repeatedly imposed on us, he said.

The unions will have to make their counter-offers today or accept the government pay offer. Copyright (c) 2009. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.