The Legislative Council (LegCo) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passed the Public Officers Pay Adjustment Bill on Wednesday, which will cut the civil servant payment by 3 percent in 2004 and 2005 respectively.
Secretary for the Civil Service Joseph WP Wong told the Legislative Council that the bill seeks to implement the decision made by Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa and the Executive Council in February to restore the pay pertaining to each pay point on the civil service pay scales to the level it was, in dollar terms, on June 30, 1997.
In making the above pay reduction decision, Tung and the Executive Council had taken careful account of all relevant factors under the prevailing civil service pay adjustment mechanism, including the state of the economy, changes in the cost of living and budgetary considerations, he said.
"The decision also reflects the consensus proposal that I had reached with staff representatives in February this year on the timing and magnitude of further adjustments to civil service pay following the pay reduction implemented from October 1, 2002," he said.
In the long term, he pointed out, instead of seeking the enactment of legislation on each occasion of a decision to reduce civil service pay, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government should put in place an appropriate mechanism capable of implementing both upward and downward adjustments to civil service pay in future.
"To this end, in April this year we embarked on an exercise to develop, in consultation with staff, an improved civil service pay adjustment mechanism for long-term adoption in the civil service," Wong said.
According to him, they aim to complete the preparation of any necessary legislation for implementing both upward and downward civil service pay adjustments for consultation within the civil service in the fourth quarter of 2004 and to introduce any such necessary draft legislation into the Legislative Council in the second quarter of 2005.
(Xinhua News Agency December 11, 2003)
