TNAG-0695-FCO40-845-Policy-on-salaries-for-civil-service-in-Hong-Kong-1977 — Page 91

CONFIDENTIAL

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11.

As a result of this disagreement, some 300 Land

and Engineering Surveying Assistants in the Public Works

Department continued to refuse to perform outdoor survey

work and, in effect, did no work at all throughout the

quarter. For a brief spell, 12 to 28 September, some of

the 1,000 strong Association of Government Architectural,

Cartographic, Engineering and Surveying Technicians,

chiefly in the Public Works Department, staged a half-

hearted work-to-rule in support of their claim for enhanced

pay scales under the new structure.

12.

On 24th August, at the same time as the Finance

Committee decision was conveyed to the major PWD staff

associations, it was also announced that the Governor

intended to appoint an independent Committee of Inquiry

to enquire into the facts of the dispute between management

and staff about the new structure and pay rates, to proffer

independent advice on their fairness or otherwise, and

to recommend to the Governor whether any amendments were

necessary.

13. The Committee of Inquiry under Professor P.G. Willoughby,

Second Professor of Law at Hong Kong University, commenced

work on 5th September and submitted its report to the

Governor on 20th October.

14.

Although the Committee of Inquiry made some criticism

of the way in which consultations with certain staff associations

/had...