TNAG-0738-FCO40-942-Progress-reports-of-Civil-Service-Branch--Hong-Kong-1978 — Page 50

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CONRIDENTIAL

4. THE ASSOCIATION OF POLICE INTERPRETERS IS ASKING TO BE COMPARED (NOT EQUATED) FOR PAY PURPOSES WITH CHINESE LANGUAGE OFFICERS, A GRADE RECRUITED MAINLY FROM UNIVERSITY GRADUATES, BUT WITH A MINIMUM ENTRY REQUIREMENT OF MATRICULATION AND MUCH MORE

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SOPHISTICATED DUTIES. THIS IS A GENERAL GRADE EMPLOYED THROUGHOUT GOVERNMENT, INCLUDING THE POLICE FORCE, WHERE THERE ARE, IN ALL,

A TOTAL OF FIFTY EIGHT POSTS MAINLY FOR SPECIALIST TRANSLATION WORK IN SPECIAL BRANCH AND CID. THE CHINESE LANGUAGE OFFICER BASIC RANK IS RECRUITED AT DOLLARS 2,242 FOR A MATRICULANT RISING TO DOLLARS 4,105 PER MONTH.

5. A MORE APPROPRIATE COMPARISON WOULD BE WITH THE CLERICAL CLASS WHICH SHARES A SIMILAR LEVEL OF ENTRY REQUIREMENT AND WITH WHICH THERE IS A CONSIDERABLE OVERLAP IN DUTIES. BEFORE THE CREATION OF THE POLICE INTERPRETER GRADE IN 1962, THE WORK WAS PERFORMED BY CLERICAL OFFICERS AND MANY OF THE SERVING POLICE INTERPRETERS ARE FORMER CLERICAL OFFICERS OR CLERICAL ASSISTANTS.

6. CLERICAL OFFICER PAY RATES, WITH THOSE FOR POLICE INTERPRETER IN BRACKETS, ARE AS FOLLOWS (IN H.K DOLLARS):-

CLERICAL OFFICER 11 : 920 2,240 (1,300

2,490)

CLERICAL OFFICER 1: 2,365 - 2,920 (2,620 3,398)

SENIOR CLERICAL OFFICER : 3,070 - 4,105 (3,565 - 4,495).

7. DURING THE PAST TWO AND A HALF YEARS SINCE THE ASSOCIATION OF POLICE INTERPRETERS WAS FORMED, IT HAS HAD EXTENSIVE DISCUSSIONS WITH THE POLICE FORCE, AND SEVERAL DETAILED EXAMINATIONS OF ALL THE POINTS RAISED BY THE ASSOCIATION HAVE PRODUCED NO EVIDENCE THAT THEY ARE NOT VERY FAIRLY PAID FOR THEIR DUTIES, TAKING INTO ACCOUNT ALL THE SPECIAL FACTORS, INCLUDING THE NEED TO WORK SHIFTS.

NFIDENTIAL

18. So......