4.
The area in which trade unionism is most developed
is probably the Civil Service itself, partly because we officially encourage responsible union activity, and partly because of the job security enjoyed in the public sector. It is interesting to note that the H.K. Civil Servants General Union is advocating Civil Service staff association representation on the Commission, rather than private sector trade union membership. Apart from the group of associations linked to the General Union, very few of the other staff associations (who were all given an opportunity to comment on the composition of the Commission) asked that staff be represented on it. This could, of course, change as a result of the General Union's activities. Of the 3 main Staff Associations who were consulted on the membership, only the Senior Non-Expatriate Officers' Association submitted a list of alternative names, and none of these were trade unionists.
5.
There would be serious problems in finding Civil Service staff association representatives who would be generally acceptable within the Civil Service. Here the political problems are less important, in that a majority of staff associations are politically neutral, but internal rivalries are strong. For example, the dispute with the Nurses is complicated by rivalry between the Nurses Unit of the Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants' Association (one of the 3 Associations in the Senior Civil Service Council) and the Association of Government Nursing Staff, which is considering linking itself to the Hong Kong Civil Servants General Union. A nomination to the Commission by the Staff Side of the Senior Civil Service Council would probably not be acceptable to a majority of individual grade associations. An added problem is that any staff representation on the Commission would almost certainly have to include a repre- sentative of the Junior Police Officers Association, and this would lead to almost irresistible pressure from the other disciplined services to be represented also.
6.
You mention the possibility of bringing in a UK trade unionist with suitable experience. I think this would
be open to all sorts of misinterpretation and almost certainly would be much resented by local trade unionists (not to mention employers). It would not be welcomed by the Civil Service generally and I would guess that the majority of civil service staff associations would feel the same way.
7.
I am sorry that so far my reaction has been essentially negative but I thought it best to set out the difficulties frankly. On the more positive side, I think it should be stressed that the new Commission has already introduced an unprecedented degree of staff consultation compared with the old style Salaries Commissions. You are already aware of the widespread consultation which took place on the Commission's composition and terms of reference, and that the terms of reference themselves underline the importance of consultation (t.o.r. I(e), (f), X).
One of
Cont'd/...
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