HK civil servants protest planned salary-cut law

Tens of thousands of civil servants staged a huge street protest in Hong Kong yesterday against a government plan to pass a law that would cut their pay by up to 4.42 percent.

The demonstration, one of the largest since 1989 when 1 million people protested a crackdown on democracy activists in China, underlines the growing animosity between the 180,000-strong civil service and the administration of Hong Kong leader Tung Chee-hwa (董建華).

The divisive row is also pitting the civil service against a general public which sees them as selfish and unwilling to share the pain of a prolonged downturn. Unemployment is at a record high of 7.4 percent after two recessions in four years.

Some 113 civil service unions took part in the march. Union leaders said there were at least 35,000 protesters, although police estimated there were at most 20,000 people.

Sporting orange bandanas and colorful banners, they marched in several batches along Hong Kong's busiest thoroughfare from Victoria Park to government headquarters in the central district.

Protesters said the problem was not the pay cut, but that it would be enacted through a law which would then allow the government to cut salaries unilaterally in the future.

"I am fine with the pay cut, but the administration is just ramming it through by enacting a law. Our pay and benefits will never be secure again. If they do it now, they can do it again," said Raymond Chong, a civil servant of 20 years.

The government decided in May to cut civil servants' pay by between 1.58 percent and 4.42 percent -- saving some HK$3.1 billion (US$397 million) a year -- after public pressure to cut the budget deficit, which hit HK$63.3 billion last fiscal year.

The bureaucracy eats up some 80 percent of government operating expenditure and 66 percent of total spending.

Hong Kong's senior civil servants are handsomely paid and enjoy generous benefits such as housing allowances.

In contrast, a large number of private sector workers in the territory have faced pay cuts or freezes in recent years, or lost their jobs altogether.