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b ucapable Lostering a responsible attitude to negotiations in
an otherwise lopsided gructure.
Even this recourse is subject to the
Governor's approval.. In 1969, the council's first attempt to resolve a
major pay question ended in deadlock. An Independent Committee of .
Inquiry was called which found in favour of the staff side. During the
economic recession of 1974/5 the government pressured associations into
agreeing to a one-year pay pause on the basis of a predicted budget deficit.
When the budget turned out to be in surplus by $223 million (HK) unions
attempted to re-open discussions. The government refused to discuss the
matter further and proposals for an Independent Committee of Inquiry were
rejected by the Governor because the issue was deemed to be one of 'settled
public policy'. Such unilateral actions have severely damaged the
council's credibility, as has its failure to permit formal representation
---by some of the other 76 unions. In fact, those unions represented presently
account for less than 25% of total union membership.
Fair Comparison
The 1968 agreement represented an attempt to introduce a staff
relations structure modelled largely on the UK civil service except that
in Hong Kong the right of unions to bargain formally with the government has
never been recognised. The government outlined. a new pay policy (also ·
...
modelled on UK experience) where remuneration was to be assessed on the
basis of 'fair comparison with conditions prevailing for analogue occupatious
in the private sector. Where such comparisons were impossible, salary was
to be based on a series of internal relativities determined by the government.
The Civil Service Branch (CSB) was established to centrally administer
staff relations.
A-semi-autonomous part of the CSB the Pay Investigation
Unit was to conduct annual pay trend surveys of the private sector to be
used in SCSC discussions.
Following the 1971 Salaries Commission, the former ten-class system
of broad-banding civil servants' pay was replaced by a salary structure that