Thirdly, staff relations in the Hong Kong Civil Service are in a
transitional stage where pressures are rapidly accelerating for a move
from 'consultative' joint arrangements to more substantial 'negotiating'
This reflects a general trend in industrialized economies
where inflation has often triggered an upsurge of interest in white
collar unionism and collective pay determination.
arrangements.
Fourthly, Hong Kong civil service staff relations have their centre of
-gravity in a pay policy and pay structure which is subject to increasing
strains. Again, these problems are familiar in the public sectors of both
developed or developing countries. The cardinal principle of pay deter-
mination in the Hong Kong Government is nominally 'fair comparison' with
the private sector. Many civil service occupations do not possess ready
analogies in the private sector and this serves to intensify conflict over
the alignment of internal relativities. Employee perceptions of inequity
in government pay policy are further heightened by the second cardinal
principle of civil service pay determination, namely that public sector
wage or salary increases should follow the private sector.
THE HONG KONG CIVIL SERVICE
•
The Hong Kong Government is the largest employer in the Colony with a
workforce of 104, 157 in 1976. The largest organization in the private
sector employed-only 7,000 people. The Government is in fact an agglom-
eration of undertakings under centralized control which includes
'nationalized industries' such as the Kowloon-Canton Railway as well as··
administrative departments and public services.
In the context of employment in the Colony as a whole, there are certain
salient features of Hong Kong Government service. Firstly, unlike the