************************************************
A spokesman for the Civil Service Bureau (CSB) announced today (June 16) that the following pay offers have been made to the staff sides of the four central consultative councils in the civil service:
(a) a pay freeze for civil servants in the lower and middle salary bands; and
(b) a pay cut of 5.38% for civil servants in the upper salary band and above, subject to the proviso that no pay point in the upper salary band should be less than $48,700 (i.e. $300 above the upper limit of $48,400 of the middle salary band).
The above pay offers were decided by the Chief Executive-in-Council (CE-in-Council) having regard to: the net pay trend indicators (PTIs) as derived from the findings of the recently completed Pay Trend Survey (PTS), the state of the economy, the Government's fiscal position, changes in the cost of living, the staff sides' pay claims, and the state of civil service morale.
"The net PTIs for the middle and lower salary bands are only slightly negative. Taking into account the mildly inflationary environment, the morale of the civil service, as well as the pay claims from the staff sides, the CE-in-Council has decided to make an offer of a pay freeze for these civil servants."
"There were occasions in the past when the pay offers did not follow the net PTIs because of consideration of other relevant factors," the spokesman said.
"Having considered the net PTI of the upper salary band and other relevant factors, the CE-in-Council has decided that the pay offer for civil servants in the upper salary band and above should follow the relevant net PTI, i.e. -5.38%."
The 2009-10 net PTIs for the three salary bands are as follows:
Salary Band Net PTI
----------- -------
Upper -5.38%
(monthly salary from
$48,401 - $97,545)
Middle -1.98%
(monthly salary from
$15,785 - $48,400)
Lower -0.96%
(monthly salary
below $15,785)
Under the established mechanism, the CE-in-Council will consider the responses of the staff sides to the pay offers, and then make a final decision on the 2009-10 civil service pay adjustment. Without prejudice to the final decision of the CE-in-Council, any civil service pay reduction will be implemented by legislation, and will take prospective effect.
Ends/Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Issued at HKT 12:54
NNNN
