damonleon1 2007-7-4 00:03
Welfare chief to look at unequal pay scales
The new labour and welfare chief yesterday rejected calls to use money saved from funding cuts to non-government groups to increase the wages of their social workers.
But Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung Kin-chung promised to meet social workers' groups within two weeks to discuss solutions to the problem of unequal pay between government-subsidised groups and the civil service.
He said officials were working on a plan to realign services under the labour and social welfare departments and resources saved in this way could benefit NGO workers, but he did not give any details.
The new secretary also said returning the 9.3 per cent cut in subsidies in 2000 to non-governmental groups was out of the question.
"The cut was made according to the economic situation at the time and it was applied to all sectors, not just welfare," he said.
Last month 2,000 social workers held a protest to demand a pay rise after the government announced a 4.6 to 4.9 per cent increase for their civil service counterparts, which could double the salary gap between them.
Social Workers' General Union president Cheung Kwok-chu said he was disappointed but still hopeful the restructuring proposal envisaged by the minister would save resources that could be used to benefit underpaid social workers. He said no industrial action would be taken before the meeting with the minister.
Before it was disbanded last month, the Commission on Poverty recommended improving co-operation between the labour and social welfare departments.
The new labour and welfare secretary said his bureau would pick up the proposal as its first priority.
"We have the strongest team ever in the works against poverty," he said.
Details of the plan have not been disclosed.
