A civil servant group had found over 80 percent of civil servants refuse to take a pay cut after an advisory committee said salaries of more than 170,000 public servants could be cut in 2021-22.
The study by the Government Employees Association was conducted after the Pay Trend Survey Committee announced earlier that workers in the upper, middle, and lower salary bands could face pay cuts of 2.04 percent, 0.54 percent, and 0.68 percent, respectively.
From the 2,254 responses received by the group, over 80 percent of the respondents express dissatisfaction with the advisory body’s pay trend results, refusing to take a pay cut.
Meanwhile, around 34 percent of them said they will not accept a wage freeze if the government eventually decides to do so, while around 40 percent said they will accept the decision reluctantly.
There were also over 90 percent of civil servants who said a wage freeze this year will continue to hit staff morale.
The group also called for a pay raise according to inflation rates.
“With Hong Kong’s economy gradually picking up and the epidemic stabilizing, a slight pay raise according to inflation rates will not have any adverse effect on the government’s financial condition,” the group added.
