Not enough!

Most of the 176,000 civil servants are disappointed with the 2.5 percent across-the-board pay rise as the government is disregarding their efforts in fighting the pandemic, a civil service unionist says.

But an unnamed insider said civil servants had no choice but to accept the increment, given that the proposed rate of up to 7.26 percent had triggered so much controversy.

Announcing the rise after two years of salary freeze, the Secretary for the Civil Service, Ingrid Yeung Ho Poi-yan, said yesterday that it is not a must for the government to follow the pay trend survey results.

"The final decision is not based on calculation from a fixed formula, but a balance struck among factors including citizens' daily costs, the city's economic growth, the government's fiscal reserve and civil servants proactively fighting the pandemic," Yeung said.

"The pay trend survey report is also merely one of the factors taken into consideration, and there have been different circumstances in which the final decision differed from the report."

She added that civil servants' pay is largely similar to employees at private companies in the long run, while civil servants can continue enjoying their sense of accomplishment for serving the community and a highly stable working environment.

"Therefore, I am not worried the proposal will cause a brain drain within the government," Yeung said.

"The private market will also understand that the report was compiling the change in salary in the past year, and the market will consider the latest situation to adjust the salary for this year," she said.

The government will meet with all four civil service unions today to discuss the Executive Council's proposal and gather their opinions before seeking the Executive Council's final decision.

Leung Chau-ting, chairman of the Federation of Civil Service Union, told The Standard that the increment was unacceptable and the government was being indifferent as it ignored civil servants' efforts in helping the government fight the pandemic.

"We have made a huge contribution, as these are not something we should do, but it is extra workload for us," said Leung. "We have done more than we should, and the government has taken all the credit for that, and now we are not being rewarded."

He added that junior civil servants would see only a HK$325 increase in salary a month.

"We can still understand if the government cannot increase the salary as much as the Pay Trend Survey Report suggested, but I think civil servants at least deserve a 4 percent hike," Leung added.

He said the six consideration factors are too vague and it is up to the government to interpret them so unionists can never refute them. If the situation continued, civil servants would lose confidence in the salary adjusting mechanism, he said.

"The top officials really do not understand what life is like for ordinary people," Leung said. He was not confident they could overturn the proposed increased rate by the Chief Executive and the Executive Council.

Li Kwai-yin, president of the Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants' Association, said civil servants were disappointed as the increment was nowhere near the 5.3 percent proposed by the association.

The pay rise would also mean some civil servants would not be able to keep up with the 1.7 percent inflation, while a different mechanism between top officials and the entire civil service team also made her worried that it would affect civil servants' morale.

"We will make a counter-proposal to the civil service bureau. I hope the government and Exco will truly consider our opinion," Li said.

A furious senior civil servant, who wished not to be named, was dissatisfied with the increment. "It is just around HK$3,000 more per month, which makes no difference. If the government is not going to follow the pay trend survey result, then stop wasting money to do it every year," he said.

Labor sector lawmaker Aron Kwok Wai-keung from the Federation of Trade Unions said he was disappointed with the government proposal, as civil servants were hoping for at least 4 percent salary increase.

But he was still happy to see the government scrapping the pay freeze.

The Government Employees Association said in a statement that it was extremely disappointed by the 2.5 percent salary rise.

However, Allen Shi Lop-tak, chairman of the Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong, congratulated civil servants for having a pay rise. He also said the business sector might take reference from the 2.5 percent increase.

The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce welcomed the government's decision, saying it was reasonable in the difficult business environment.

The Pay Trend Survey Report, released in May, proposed a 7.26 percent pay rise for senior civil servants, 4.55 percent for mid-ranked civil servants and 2.04 percent for junior civil servants.

But the report subsequently drew flak from several Exco members, who called the figures exaggerated and out of touch, while the business sector feared a "ripple effect" in the economy.

This led to discussion of the pay rise being taken off Exco's agenda last month, as Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said it would be a matter for the next administration to decide.

michael.shum@singtaonewscorp.com