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12 July 2002
Dear Colleagues,
2002 Civil Service Pay Adjustment
Public Officers Pay Adjustment Bill
I am writing to inform you that the Public Officers Pay Adjustment Bill was passed in the Legislative Council yesterday. This, which will be published in the Gazette on 19 July 2002, serves to implement the Government's decision to reduce civil service pay this year by 4.42 % for the directorate and the upper salary band, 1.64 % for the middle salary band and 1.58 % for the lower salary band with effect from 1 October 2002.
I know many civil servant colleagues recognise that this year's civil service pay adjustment has been determined in full accordance with the existing pay adjustment mechanism, and they consider the size of the pay reduction reasonable and modest. Some civil servant colleagues are concerned about the legislative approach adopted for implementing the pay reduction decision. But I hope that with our repeated explanation over the past two months, you will now have acquired a better understanding of the rationale behind this approach. In his letter of 5 July 2002, the Chief Executive has emphasised that the Public Officers Pay Adjustment Bill was a piece of one-off legislation to cater specifically for the implementation of this year's civil service pay reduction, no more and no less. He has further assured civil servant colleagues that the Government had no plan or intention to use this pay reduction legislation as a pretext for curtailing civil servants' pension benefits. I hope civil servant colleagues will appreciate that legislation is the only viable means to implement the pay reduction decision with certainty.
The civil service pay reduction has been a matter of our foremost concern in recent months. As the implementation of the pay reduction decision has now been ensured, I look forward to continuing my communication with civil servants on various civil service matters, and to intensifying our dialogue. Since I assumed the office of the Secretary for the Civil Service in August 2000, I have made use of the consultative machinery within the civil service to exchange views with civil service staff associations and colleagues of all ranks on matters concerning the civil service. At the central level, I met with the staff sides of the central consultative councils for more than forty times last year to exchange ideas and views on various subjects. At the departmental level, I visit, on an average, one department every week to discuss with departmental management, association representatives and front-line colleagues their concerns. I have completed my first round of visits to sixty-odd government departments and have started to make a second round. With individual members of the civil service, I communicate mainly by letter. Whenever there is a major policy review concerning the civil service, I write to you all to explain the position of the Government and to invite your views.
In July 2002, I was appointed the Secretary for the Civil Service under the Accountability System. In my new capacity, I pledge to strengthen my communication with all civil servant colleagues and to open up new communication channels. I aim at setting up a network for more comprehensive and thorough consultation. I shall liaise more closely with all civil service staff associations and offer individual colleagues opportunities to put forth their views directly to me and the Civil Service Bureau. The specific arrangements will be announced in due course.
The civil service is the cornerstone of the HKSAR Government. I am confident that you will uphold the fine traditions of the civil service by continuing to serve the community with dedication and professionalism.
Yours sincerely,
(Joseph W P Wong)
Secretary for the Civil Service
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