Thursday, March 14, 1974
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On the government's subvention policy, he called for a revision
with a view to applying the principle of Equal Pay for Equal Work to all.
ALL government-subvented organisations, ho maintained, should
be provided with sufficient funds to enable them to pay salary increases
retrospectively to the same date as that chosen for government servants.
The financial procedure should be so arranged as to enable adjustments in
salary to be made at the same time as those applicable to the public sorvice.
"Anything less can only be regarded as discriminatory and unfair
to the staff concerned," Mr. Li stressed, adding that all employees of
government-subvented organisations should be deemed subvented government
servants as they "serve the community in exactly the same way as their
civil service counterparts".
He noted that voluntary organisations on discretionary grants
are not provided with funds to assist them in granting to their own
staff salary increases equivalent to those approved for comparable posts in
the public sorvico during the course of a financial year though such increases
were taken into account when determining their subvention for the ensuing
year only.
"The present position," Mr. Li warned, "can only lead to further
erosion of morale of their existing staff which in turn may lead to a
decline in the quality of service to the general public."
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