Civil servants moving closer to hefty pay rises amid opposition

Civil servants moved closer to getting a pay rise of up to 7.26 percent after the Pay Trend Survey Committee stood firm on its proposal yesterday despite criticism the figures were exaggerated.

The 2022 pay trend report, released on May 18, which will affect the pay rise of the government's 180,000 workforce, recommended a 2.04 percent increase for junior civil servants, 4.55 percent for mid-ranked staff and 7.26 percent for senior ones.

The report drew fire from the Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants' Association, which said the report showed exaggerated figures as those hardest hit during the pandemic would not opt to provide their salary statistics.

After another meeting yesterday, committee chairman Lee Luen-fai said the government sent out 161 invitations to companies asking them to provide their salary statistics for reference - and 111 companies, or nearly 70 percent, responded.

They included companies from Hong Kong's nine major industries, as Lee said there could be minor adjustments to the mechanism determining government salary increases to better follow market trends.

Lee said the pay trend report is only one of the six factors the government will consider, including the economy, the government's financial position, living costs, civil servants' demands and morale.

He believed it is not the best way to adjust civil servants' wages in accordance with inflation, as suggested by the Chinese Civil Servants' Association, for it "is just enlarging one of the factors that determines the pay rise." The report has been submitted to the Executive Council.

The president of the Hong Kong Senior Government Officers' Association, Lee Fong-chung, said junior civil servants should also get a 4.55 percent pay rise so their salaries could catch up with inflation after being frozen for two years.

Executive Council convener Bernard Charnwut Chan said the government has to consider other factors and balance the wage difference among different pay bands besides considering market trends.

"In the private market, top management levels will keep on increasing at a high rate, as we can see a brain drain, especially among professionals," Chan said.

"The government will have to strike a balance internally or else it will affect the whole administration, while it also has to consider the impression within society."

Another Exco member, New People's Party chairwoman Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, said increasing the wages of senior civil servants by more than 7 percent is "unrealistic, controversial and will not be accepted by the public."

michael.shum@singtaonewscorp.com