HONG KONG: Government political appointees pledged to stand with the people in weathering the financial crisis, accepting lower salaries until the storm passes. The pledge came yesterday after civil servants' organizations voiced fears about possible civil service pay cuts that loomed following Monday's release of the latest pay trend survey.

Based upon trends in the private sector, and after deducting incremental costs, the highest ranking civil servants could face salary reductions based on a calculated index of -5.38 percent.

The index for middle and lower rank civil servants also recorded negative indices of -1.98 and -0.96 percent respectively.

Political appointees include the Chief Secretary for Administration, Financial Secretary, Secretary for Justice, the policy secretaries, under secretaries and political assistants. Their pay adjustment is considered separately from civil servants.

"However, the adverse impact of the financial tsunami on the economy has gradually surfaced. My political team and I will stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Hong Kong to ride out these difficult times," Chief Executive Donald Tsang said. "I also want to stress that whether the salaries of political appointees should be changed should not affect established procedures for civil service pay adjustment."

Political appointees took a pay cut of 10 percent in 2003 when the Hong Kong economy was hard hit by the SARS outbreak.

Last year, senior civil servants got a pay raise of 6.3 percent, but the pay for political appointees remained frozen. Speaking in Beijing, Chief Secretary for Administration Henry Tang said he is willing to take a pay cut.

"We have an established mechanism for handling civil service pay. We will deal with the issue according to the mechanism," he said. "On the other hand, as a politically appointed official, I fully agree that we should weather the difficult times together with the public. Therefore, as part of the team, I am willing to have a pay cut."

The measure of the pay cut will depend on the final tally for the civil service pay mechanism, he said.

Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung also said he is willing to see his pay chopped.

"We need time to figure out how it should be implemented, especially the proportion of the cut. We will internally discuss the matter," he said.

Tsang said the Civil Service Bureau will follow established procedures for dealing with pay issues, and will listen to the views of the civil servants' groups.

(HK Edition 05/20/2009 page1)