Civil service unions demand meeting with new Hong Kong leader John Lee over ‘insulting’ 2.5 per cent pay rise offer

Unionists hope to be able to convince Chief Executive John Lee, who only took office last Friday, to overturn the offer of an across-the-board pay rise of 2.5 per cent

Calls come after talks between representatives of four government staff consultative councils and civil service chief fail to iron out differences

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Civil service unions are not happy with the pay rise offered. Photo: Nora Tam

Published: 11:39pm, 6 Jul 2022Updated: 1:11am, 7 Jul 2022

Unions representing various ranks of Hong Kong’s 180,000 government workers have demanded a face-to-face meeting with the city’s new leader to vent their anger over an “insulting” 2.5 per cent pay rise endorsed by his cabinet on Tuesday.

The unionists hope to be able to convince Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, who only took office last Friday, to overturn the offer of an across-the-board rise of 2.5 per cent, which was a far cry from the up to 7.26 per cent increases previously recommended by a panel based on a survey of private sector pay trends.

The call was made after talks between representatives of four government staff consultative councils and Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung Ho Poi-yan on Wednesday failed to iron out differences.

Lam Chun-hung, staff-side chairman of the Model Scale 1 Staff Consultative Council, which represents mainly frontline workers or low earners, said after the meeting: “The offer is flatly unfair. Even ministers can have pay adjustments to catch up with inflation. Why can we not? We hope to be able to present our case directly to John Lee.”