TNAG-0785-FCO40-989-Study-of-labour-relations-in-Hong-Kong-by-Professor-H-A-Turn-1978 — Page 141

7.

for a change in the basis of wage determination.

One mooted alternative

is a return to some form of cost-of-living increase which, based on the

consumer price index, was the staple form of wage rise before the reforms

4.

in pay policy of the late 1960s.

What should-be pointed out about the government's pay policy is that the

mechanism of pay reviews follows in broad principle UK public pay deter-

mination. However, the UK model assumes the existence of autonomous and

powerful unions where such information can be used purely as a basis for

negotiation. In Hong Kong, strong civil service unions staffed by

The pay reviews consequently

professional negotiators do not exist.

-

}

acquire a significance in what is more nearly unilateral pay determination

which quite exceeds that possessed by the original UK model which pre-...

supposes collective bargaining.

Pay Structure

The current pay structure is the result of reforms advocated by the

1971 Salaries Commission. Previously, the general civil service pay

structure had been distributed in 10 different scales which included

acknowledgedly disparate occupations in the same category and whose

arbitrariness had become patently obvious over the course of time;

Excluding the police, the present pay structure consists in a series of

occupational classes distributed in three different pay categories.

At the apex is the 12-point Directorate Pay Scale covering approximately

500 posts and ranging in April 1977 from HK$10,330 a month at Point 1

to HK$23,500 a month at April 12 (8). This group is excluded from

(8) Hong Kong Government, Directorate Pay Scale, 1.4.77.