GOVERNMENT SHORTHAND-AUDIO TYPISTS ASSOCIATION
S.A.T.BULLETIN
Hennessy Road Post Office, P.O. Box 20549, H.K.
Vol 1 No 1 Page 1 September 1977
TO BE PRESENTED TO MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT, WOMEN'S ASSOCIATION, RELEVANT CIVIL SERVICES UNIONS AND OTHER RELEVANT ORGANISATIONS.
Shorthand-Audio Typists of the Hong Kong Government (Abbreviation: S.A.T.) - All female staff. A Shorthand-Audio Typist normally provides secretarial services for one or more officers, carrying out the usual secretarial duties, S.A.T. may be required to serve as a leave relief for Personal Secretary. On appointment the S.A.T. should have shorthand and typing speeds of 70 w.p.m. and 40 w.p.m. respectively. (Note that after restructuring, the shorthand and typing speeds are 80 w.p.m. and 50 w.p.m. respectively.)
The Hong Kong Government regard the S.A.T. grade as having a three-fold purpose. In one aspect, it should afford a promotion grade for competent copy-typists, while in another it should serve as a training grade for potential personal secretaries. Finally, it must provide a career salary for the S.A.T.s who cannot quality for further advancement. In addition, the Government claim that when S.A.T.s have obtained a few years experience, promotion to secretaries will be carried out.
A. Grievances
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1. 1971 "Equal Pay for Equal Job" and "Pay for the Job" scheme Before the implementation of "Equal Pay for Equal Job" and "Pay for the Job" scheme, the salary scale of S.A.T.s was five points ahead at entry HK$525 when compared with Clerical Officer II (female) at HK$389, together with maximum equivalent to the entry point of Clerical Officer I (female) at HK$980. The 1971 Salaries Commission of the Hong Kong Government by then implemented the "Equal Pay for Equal Job" and "Pay for the Job" scheme, in which the Government accept the principle that civil servants' salary in terms of merit, marriage or family status and of "Equal Pay for Equal Job”. We are surprised to learn that whilst other grades in the Civil Service having the same or similar academic qualifications enjoy "equal pay" and "pay for the Job" policy. We have been bitterly excluded from it with excuse claimed by the Government that the S.A.T. grade contain no male counterpart. Moreover, in 1972, we had to sacrifice full-pay maternity leave in exchange for half-pay maternity leave as we strongly denounce.
2. Owing to the aforementioned, we have been progressively losing out in comparison with our sisters who have been generally catching up with the men in Equal Pay scales (e.g. entry point for Clerical Officer II (female) has been lifted up at HK$855 with maximum at HK$2080, entry and maximum for S.A.T.s are HK$920 and $1515 respectively. A significant reverse effect to S.A.T. grade.).
B.
1976 Restructuring on Secretarial Class
1. The present salary scale for Shorthand-Audio Typist is HK$920-$1515. With the so-called restructuring the Government intended to introduce on 8th December 1976, entry point for S.A.T.s was lowered by one point to $855 as subsequently the maximum point was lifted up by two points to $1735 as a remedy to the longstanding grievances. We opine that this new salary structure has in fact not been adequately compensated in terms of monetary loss nor could this new salary structure be commensurate fairly with the value and responsibilities of the S.A.T. grade. The compensation was created as a result of the equal pay scale which in fact has never been applied. The restructuring called for higher academic qualification for new entrants and accordingly technical skills was advanced to shorthand speed 80 w.p.m. with typing speed 50 w.p.m. in which we see no reasons that the entry point for new entrant S.A.T.s should have been lowered.
2. The S.A.T. grade after the restructuring benefits from nothing, but suffers from the 'Figure Game' displayed by the Government, because of the lack of male counterpart, the welfare of S.A.T. has been totally ignored and discriminated against.
C. Promotion Prospects
1. It is unfortunate that there is no promotion prospect for S.A.T.s and the advancement outlet is extremely slim. The fact is that the Government are incapable of furnishing sufficient promotion and advancement prospects for qualified S.A.T. which are over 30% (100 persons) in total. The newly established advancement outlet, namely. Supervisor of Typing Services is a self-destruction struggle among the Secretarial Class, as total vacancies numbered 70 and only 8.6% among the Secretarial Class-Personal Secretaries, Shorthand-Audio Typists, and Senior Typists can fight for the mentioned
advancement.
2. There are 121 redundant officers in Personal Secretary grade after the 1976 restructuring of the Secretarial Class, because the Government laid down a compulsory rule that only Directorate officers on salary points D2 or above be allowed to have a personal secretary and began to imply the whole range secretarial duties to Shorthand-Audio Typists for Officers on salary points D1 or below. We had recently submitted our survey to the Government, and it had been recognized and accepted that 33 S.A.T.s have been providing full secretarial services to Directorate Officers on salary points D2 or above as those services were unaware or ignored by the Government beforehand.
3. It is discouraging and totally unreasonable that over 100 fully-qualified S.A.T.s awaiting promotion to Personal Secretaries and over 336 S.A.T.s who reach the age of 25 onwards, receiving maximum pay without promotion prospect to Personal Secretaries not until the redundant secretaries could be utilized, and the Government during the meeting claimed that the said discrepancy may be clarified by the end of 1978 - by then the redundant Personal Secretaries shall be removed.
D.
Consultative Meetings
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1. The main purpose of the Government Shorthand-Audio Typists Association is to air our grievances in the said aspects. In response to the repeated demands from Mr. A.J. Scott, former Secretary for the Civil Service whom stated in public press and in the meeting held on 2nd May 1977 that further evidence from private sector is essential, we had dutifully furnished relevant evidence in supporting our claims for improvement on both the salary and promotion prospect. After months of intensive research, detailed comparisons with the major private sectors in Hong Kong, we introduced a pay survey from the Productivity Centre Report "Salary Trends & Fringe Benefits" of which an independent reputable survey to the public. The salary scale calculated from the said report for S.A.T.s is at HK$1255 at minimum and HK$2149 at maximum. 2. A series of meetings have been held with the Official Side and were broken off on 22nd July in which we see no justification and sincerity. All our strenuous efforts on fact findings over the past few months have been disregarded. We are most dissatisfied with the Official Side's "Turning Around" attitude throughout the meetings chaired by Mr. Hammond, Acting Secretary for the Civil Service. It is deplorable to find that they are so close-minded that our solid grounds were rejected by excuses such as "agreed" procedures, "normal" procedures and "correct" procedures. Furthermore, we have dis- covered a lot of discrepancies in the Pay Investigation Unit Report of which our salary is based on and also numerous contradictions in their arguments. (The following illustrates a few examples.) We regret that they were completely in lack of sincerity and had gone against the right attitude as stipulated in their letter dated 4th May 1977 "Mr. Scott has asked me (Mr. Hammond),to say, in conclusion, that he joins you in the hope that mutual sincerity, with reasoning and common sense will help solve any remaining problems".
E.
1.
Evidence in Supporting our Claim Good employers
The Government adopted the principle of good employer in setting salary scale for in-service S.A.T.s. Good employers are defined as those who provide stability and continuity of employment, who can furnish with adequate facilities for training and advancement outlets.
2.
Pay Investigation Unit
Pay Investigation Unit (under Civil Service Branch), is a survey machinery for the Government. The Pay Investigation Unit Report is the only guidance for salary structure for the whole of the Civil Service.
3.
Median
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The method in calculation for the minimum, and maximum pay for S.A.T.s, adopted by the Pay Investigation Unit.
4. Hong Kong Productivity Centre
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The Hong Kong Productivity Centre is an independent party, earning sound reputation in local commercial and industrial field. The 1976 Productivity Centre Report "Salary Trends & Fringe Benefits" is the reference and groundwork for S.A.T.s presentation during our previous Consultative Meetings
with the Official Side.
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5. The 1976 Pay Investigation Unit Survey and the calculation of medium was stipulated as follows:
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