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Regulation 611 for refusing to perform their usual duties. Resulting from this, 7 evening or Sunday Clinics have to be closed. The degree of disruption to public service, however, has not proved to be significant.
5.
On 4th December, 33 of the 115 Civil Service staff associations met and pledged financial support to the dispensers should they decide to contest Government's action in the courts. These Associations called for the removal of CSR 611 from the Regulations and for the cancellation of the suspension order imposed on the dispensers. They further resolved at a meeting on 11th December that they would stage a demonstration in front of the Government Secretariat on 14th December in support of the dispensers. This demonstration took place on the morning of 14th December with around 100 officers participating. They requested the Secretary for the Civil Service or his deputy to receive the petition in person in front of the media. As it is not normal practice for senior officers to receive petitions in person, this request was not acceded to and they were asked to select a few representatives to hand the petition in to the Deputy Secretary for the Civil Service in his office. This was turned down by the demonstrators who finally decided to tear up the petition in public. This action on the part of the demonstrators did not receive any public support and was generally regarded as naive.
6.
In the meanwhile, the 27 suspended dispensers have jointly filed a writ in the Supreme Court on 13th December against the Government's action to suspend them. A hearing is awaited and the matter is now in the hands of the Courts.
Nurses
7.
The nurses and allied grades (about 6,000 staff) have been dissatisfied with their pay structure and general conditions of service for some time and had in fact embarked upon a "work-to-rule" late last year. with the appointment of the Standing Commission the nurses called off industrial action hoping that their grievances would be settled by the Commission although basically regarding this as a delaying tactic. With the publication of the Standing Commission's Report, the Association of Government Nursing Staff (represent- ing the majority of the nurses) responded immediately with a call for a "work-to-rule" from 27th October. Despite the fact that the Report contains some improvement for nurses, Association felt that the Standing Commission had not done them justice and had not taken full account of their representations.
8,
the
Upon the nurses' announcement, the Secretary for the Civil service and the Director of Medical and Health Services immediately responded with an open letter to the nurses stating clearly Government's position regarding the Commission's recommendations and appealing to the nurses to act in a responsible and sensible manner. This appeal was ignored by the Association which proceeded to call upon its members to take on a form of "work-to-rule" action that aimed at irritating and causing inconvenience to management rather than disruption to public service.
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