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now would cause undesirable delay which would not be in the interest
of the civil service as a whole. The Staff Side has therefore
recommended that the Report should now be forwarded to Executive
Council with a request that all matters in dispute should be referred
back to the Standing Commission for review as soon as possible.
22.
Within the civil service there is without doubt a large body
of responsible opinion which does not support the attempts being made
by some groups of staff to force the Government to modify the
Commission's recommendations in their favour. These pressures must be
resisted if the Government is to command the respect of the moderate
majority among its employees.
23.
It remains therefore the Government's intention to put the
Standing Commission's First Report on Civil Service Pay to Executive
Council for decision without delay, so as not to deprive staff of the
substantial benefits which will result if the recommendations are
accepted. Moreover, there are many recommendations in the Report which
will help recruitment, assist in the management of departments, and
generally lead to improved efficiency.
24.
Pending a decision from Executive Council I should like to
reiterate that this is a Standing Commission and, as the Commission
itself recognises, its First Report does not pretend to solve all pay
problems or meet all civil servants' expectations. Thus the Commission
remains ready to review pay scales as necessary in the light of
comments from both staff and management. I therefore urge civil
servants who have reservations on the Report to act responsibly and
put their cases back to the Commission.
/25.