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Following is the transcript (English portion) of a media session given by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Donald Tsang, this (May 28) afternoon at Central Government Offices:
Reporter: Mr Tsang, despite the strong opposition from the civil servants' unions, why is the Government insisting on to go ahead with the pay cut as proposed?
Chief Secretary for Administration: We do believe that unions will have to represent their own views on this matter. But I also believe that the majority of civil servants are moderate. They wish to maintain a partnership relationship with the members of the public at large, and they do understand that the economy as a whole is in difficulty at the moment. I am sure they do understand that the proposal being made is a moderate one, it's a reasonable one, and it's one made under the mechanism which has long been established. I do believe that it is right for Exco to decide the way it has done, balancing the plea of the civil servants' unions on the one hand, and public interest on the other, and having regard to the general feelings of the civil servants as a whole.
(Please also refer to the transcript in Chinese)
End/Tuesday, May 28, 2002
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