CODE 18-77
Mr Cox
CONFIDENTIAL
HMOCS: LETTERS FROM MEMBERS
HKA 233/1
Reference
1.
I have now read approximately 150 of the letters received from HMOCS members. The attached comments sheet summarises the comments. I am grateful to Dr Harkin for studying over 100 letters. I would offer the following comments.
(a) The letters are almost unanimous in condeming our proposals as, variously; inadequate, unacceptable, derisory or insulting. While the great majority make the same points (see below) there is little evidence of widespread copying of a "master" draft letter. There are a number of very obvious cases of the same form of letter being used in the Marine Department and in some sections of the police force but I would estimate that the total number of letters in this category is between 30 and 40.
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(b) The four most common points made in the letters are that:
there should be the right to retire with immediate payment of pension and compensation
there should be sterling safeguards for pensions and/or pension guarantees
there should be separate arrangements for compensation and enducement payments
the compensation factors used should be based on those used in previous schemes.
(c) The police officers as a group seem particularly to have been upset by our proposal. In addition to the above four points police officers also stated that:
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they could not serve a communist regime/had given an oath to the Queen
it was quite wrong to blackmail/coherse civil servants to work for the SARG
the proposals flew in the face of HKG's localisation policy (this was a point also made by other non-Administrative Officer HMOCS members)
the deadline for comments was totally unrealistic (HKG have acknowledged that the internal posting system in the police meant that our proposal only reached some police officers on or a couple of days before the deadline).
(d) Not that many respondents commented in any detail on our proposals. Of those who did, the following points were most frequently made:
the picking of the 1991 average exchange rate was arbitrary and unfair. Various alternatives were
SISADJ
CONFIDENTIAL
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