TNAG-2093-FCO40-2979-Royal-Hong-Kong-Police-Force-1990 — Page 27

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8.

The Police Staff Associations decided that they wanted to be able to negotiate directly with the Hong Kong Government over Police pay and conditions of service rather than go through the Police Sub-Committee or the Police Force Council, which has the status of a central Government consultative council and is chaired by the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Management and attended by the Deputy Secretary of the Civil Service (Staff Management) as the representative of the Hong Kong Government. Accordingly, on 20 June 1990, at the 43rd Meeting of the Police Force Council, the Staff Associations asked that the Council's Constitution be amended, amongst other things, in order that the Secretary of the Civil Service could chair the Council (as he does with the other three central Government consultative councils) and for the Staff Side to be afforded recourse to a Committee of Inquiry in the event of an impasse between the Staff Side and the Official Side in respect of any serious dispute. Although Force Management fully supports the affording of recourse to a Committee of Inquiry to the Staff Side of the Police Force Council (and has been pressing for this for over 1 1/2 years), neither the Commissioner nor the Secretary for the Civil Service is in favour of the Secretary for the Civil Service assuming the chairmanship of the Police Force Council, which is, after all, the Commissioner's own Council whereby he consults members of his disciplined staff. The four Police Staff Associations, comprising the Junior Police Officers' Association with a claimed membership of 18,696, the Expatriate Inspectors' Association with a claimed membership of 520, the Local Inspectors' Association with a claimed membership of 1,700 and the Superintendents' Association with a claimed membership of 470, then withdrew from meetings of the Police Force Council. They also asked for (and were given) a special meeting with the Commissioner; they petitioned the Governor (and were subsequently given a reply by the Secretary for the Civil Service); and they sent a two-man delegation to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London where, as you are aware, they saw Mr Alan Paul.

9.

So far, however, the position remains basically unchanged. The Commissioner remains steadfast in his intention of retaining control of the Police Force Council and, similarly, the Secretary for the Civil Service remains unwilling to take it over. I should perhaps emphasize that, even if the Secretary for the Civil Service did assume chairmanship of the Council, the Staff Side would not, as they suppose, be in a direct negotiating position with the Hong Kong Government and this is the fallacy of their thinking. The Secretary for the Civil Service merely chairs the other central consultative council meetings and does not got involved in direct bargaining with the Staff Side.

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