Association of Hong Kong Government Educational Workers
(2)
c/o Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants Association,
China Building, 7th Floor,
Queen's Road Central,
Hong Kong.
9th February, 1969.
His Excellency the Governor,
Government House, Hong Kong.
Your Excellency,
At a meeting of representatives of this Association held jointly this morning with representatives of the Teachers' and Nurses' Groups of the Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants' Association, the following statement was adopted. The statement defines this Association's views on
(i) the current Review of Education Department Salaries and Structure; and (ii) Government's current proposals to defer Government Teachers from
inclusion in a projected seven-year scheme to apply to the salary structure of the Hong Kong Government Service the principle of equal pay for men and women doing identical work or similar work of virtually equal value.
(i) The Review of Education Department Salaries and Structure
(a) This Review, which originated from recommendations made outside its terms of reference by the 1963 Education Commission for a reduction in salaries and for changes in other conditions of service of Government Servants in the Education Department, is unjust to those Government Servanus in that it was not instituted and has not been conducted in a manner which accords with the moral obligations of a good employer such as the Hong Kong Government. (Please see Appendix A)
(b) Consultation at Colonial Secretariat level with the three main Staff
Associations on any proposals which may result from this unjust Review would be similarly unjust both to government teachers and to the Hong Kong public, as it would not provide the means for adequate representation of Government Teachers' interests or of the interests of the Hong Kong public. (Please see Appendix B).
(c) Limited and private consultation at Colonial Secretariat level might well
result in the adoption of an unwise policy which could produce ill-effects even more serious and far reaching than the educationally and socially harmful effects which resulted from the adoption of the 1963 Education Policy Statement which provided for the reduction of the Frimary School course from six years to five.
(d) Only an independent and expert Commission, constitutionally appointed
after due consultation with the main Staff Associations as was the 1965 Salaries Commission, can provide an adequate means of considering and drawing conclusions from the views of the Hong Kong Government, of teachers inside and outside the Government Service, and of the general public on what need might exist in Hong Kong for changes in Government Teachers' conditions of service and in the structure of the Education Department.
(ii) The Implementation of Government's Policy of Equal Pay in the Government
Service for Men and Women doing Identical Work or Similar Work of Virtually Equal Value.
Men and women teachers do identical work, and so qualify for equal pay. No investigation of possible schemes for the adjustment of the levels and the structure of Education Department salaries, even if just and constitutional in itself, can be regarded as a just or logical reason for the deferment of the inclusion of Government Teachers in any scheme to apply the principle of equal pay to the salary structure of the Government Service. Increments, promotions and equal pay are examples of basic principles underlying the salary structure of the Government Service. Increments and promotions are not withheld when this salary structure or any part of it is under review. fore equal pay should not be withheld when this salary structure or any part of it is under review.
There-
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