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The Director of Housing, Mr Tony Miller, today (13 July 2001) assured Housing Department (HD) staff that no forced redundancy would be considered in the implementation of future service outsourcing programmes.
The assurance, delivered in an open letter to all staff, is intended to address staff concern over job security. Mr Miller reiterated that the target and pace of service outsourcing in the future would be based on the actual number of staff leaving under the Voluntary Departure Scheme (VDS).
Measures will be devised to overcome problems of temporary staff mismatch and he urged staff concerned to cooperate fully with the Department in respect of arrangements for training and re-deployment.
"I hope the assurance provided by the Department will relieve all of your concerns over job security. Let us work together, for both the Department and the HA, to provide the best public housing services to the community," Mr Miller said in the letter.
The Housing Authority (HA) approved in early 2000 the direction to gradually outsource EMM services to the private sector. In the initial two years, the management of around 110,000 rental units has been outsourced.
The number of VDS applications has reached 3,300, out of which about 1,300 staff have left the Department.
The HA Task Force formed to review outsourcing strategy met recently and will be making recommendations to the HA by the end of this month on future plans.
The Director of Corporate Services of HD, Mr Wilson Fung, dismissed as incorrect the suggestion that the Department has expedited outsourcing programmes, reaffirming that the pace of future outsourcing will be VDS-led.
"In view of this, and the fact that staff are free to stay or leave under VDS, we will not consider putting on hold outsourcing programmes for six months, as suggested by staff unions," he said.
The "cooling off period" will only bring in more uncertainties and undesirable consequences, affecting staff's plans and decisions.
"There is no need to defer the programme further as those who have left and those planning to leave within this year has already exceeded the number of posts to be deleted," he added.
On the plan of the Alliance of Housing Department Staff unions to stage a hunger strike tomorrow, Mr Fung thought it was not necessary for such drastic action in the light of the assurance given today. The Department is always ready to maintain a dialogue with staff to exchange views and to listen to their concerns, he stressed.
End/Friday, July 13, 2001
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