1
2
!
Teachers &
4.
The present trouble stems from a deep seated feeling on the part of all members of the Secretarial Class that typing and secretarial grades were unjustly treated by Government over equal pay and maternity leave. The Class is not primarily seeking to question the correctness of recent pay reviews, but the internal relativities with other grades having a significant female element which. they consider were unjustifiably distorted to their disadvantage; they can bring no evidence that their pay is out of line with that of the best payers in the private sector but whilst not exactly saying so, they are inferring that other basically female ranks (primary school teachers, nurses, receptionists and many others) have benefitted by 25% as a result, not of comparison with the private sector but the abolition of female pay scales in those grades and they fail to see why they should have been excluded from benefits of around 25% in pay merely because their grades contained no male officers.
5.
There is a growing awareness that when decisions favourable to other predominantly female grades were taken, some of those grades had been well organised and were militant. Whether justified or not secretarial class members are linking the decision to give those grades the benefits of equal pay with the degree of militancy they showed.
6.
This background of long standing,
simmering grievances explains why, when on TWO occasions agreement between the Official and Staff Sides had been reached (with the SATs Unit and the Typists Unit) militants within the two Units were able to summon sufficient support to oust the elected committees and overturn the agreements.
7.
Subsidiary reasons for breakdowns in consultation have been inexperience in staff relations on the part of those conducting staff association business and the unfortunate reluctance of experienced council members of the Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants Association to become too deeply involved for fear of losing members. The reluctance of the Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants Association council is perhaps understandable in the light of the aggrieved and excitable state of mind of some female Unit committee members and their disregard of Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants Association advice.
/ Consultation with Staff Assn.
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