The government hoped the new occupationally-based salary structure
would allow individual occupations to be realigned without necessitating a
To this end the Pay Strcture Division was established general salary revision.
tabli
in 1971. The PSD incorporated the PIU and the Pay Structure Unit (PSU) 10.
Its role was to continuously reassess the pay of particular occupations and
further obviate the need for salary commissions. 200 companies with
-suitable job analogues have been selected for this. The PIU provides data
for general salary revisions requested by unions whilst the PSU carries out
specific occupational investigations initiated by the government of its own
violition. In practice, the activities of the PIU and PSU tend to overlap
offering some support to union criticisms of the PIU's independence.
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The PSD
Given the government's emphasis on 'fair comparison' as the paramount
salary-fixing criteria, the activities of the PSD, and particularly the PIU
so critical to implementing this policy, are highly controversial.
adopts a paternalistic attitude to union submissions and feels its
-complicated calculations ('which take account of experience, promotion
prospects, hours worked, qualifications, fringe benefits and a host of other'
factors') should convince unions of its fairness. For general pay trend
-11
surveys, the mean external rate of pay increase is taken to be the guide
in discussions, while for specific pay level surveys it is the median rate
of pay amongst private sector-firms. There are disquieting aspects of
both surveys. The Hong Kong Productivity Centre recently conducted a pay
*.
trend survey of private-firus which suggested a mean rate of increase twice
that indicated by the PIU for the 1976/7 pay revision. Further, there is
some evidence that the government has 'fudged' pay level surveys for
particular groups so as not to disturb internal relativities in the civil
service.
While the government only recognises those relativities which it
regards as deliberate (1.e. not historical accidents), it is apparent that
10. There are now two lay Stricture Units. 11..
According to a set formula of "Summary of Quantifying Conditions of Service, including fringe benefits agreed to by the steering, committee (to be used for surveys reporting pay and conditions of service as at April 1, 1976) Pay Investigation Unit, March 1976