BACKGROUND NOTE
DISPUTE BETWEEN THE HONG KONG GOVERNMENT SHORTHAND AND AUDIO TYPISTS ASSOCIATION (SATA) AND THE HONG KONG GOVERNMENT
1. In 1975 an O & M study of the secretarial and typing services in Hong Kong concluded that it was desirable to introduce a radical reorganization of the existing system. The Hong Kong Secretary for the Civil Service therefore established a Committee (which included three members of the secretarial class) to draw up proposals for restructuring the secretarial class. The Committee's Report, which took into account among other things views put forward by staff side representatives was accepted by the Secretary of the Ciril Service and a revised system was proposed to the staff involved in the autum of 1976. A majority of the staff involved, including a majority of SATA members, assented to the proposal, but the Association has refused to accept it since, they claim, that a majority of their members accepted the new proposals only because a deadline was imposed and they claim some pressure was exerted by more senior officials.
2. The Association's grievances date back to 1971, when the Hong Kong Government introduced an equal-pay-for-women scheme which eliminated separate salary scales for men and women in the Government service. As a result of this, female olerical staff received substantial increases to bring them into line with their male colleagues. Shorthand and audio-typists on the other hand, being a grade where there was no separate, higher, male scale, were unaffected, As a result, whereas the shorthand and audio-typists had previously received some 33% more than female clerical officers and 80% more than female clerical assistants, after the 1971 changes a shorthand-typist at the top of her scale was receiving 13% less than a clerical officer and only 33% more than a clerical assistant. The shorthand and audio-typists were never happy about this but only recently seem to have realized that other groups similarly affected in 1971 ended up getting a better deal as a result of taking a more militant attitude. They are thus making this one of the main issues in their dispute with the Government over the 1976 package,