Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Clement Cheung, at a media session after attending the Legislative Council meeting today (May 18):
 
Reporter: Mr Cheung, many civil servant groups and unions have already expressed that they were very disappointed with the relatively low pay rise, so looking forward, how can you consider the rate and how can you boost staff morale with such a low rate?
 
Secretary for the Civil Service: I have noticed the opinions given by different unions. First of all, as far as I can figure out, some of them have actually expressed respect for the mechanism. I think we have to make sure that at the very beginning we have a mechanism which we have been using for the last decade. This mechanism is reliable, it has its integrity and we have been using it in good times and bad times. The indicators that we have published today represent one of the factors that will be taken into account. In other years when these factors reflect a relatively more substantial pay adjustment, of course it tends to meet expectation. But this time, the main reason for a slightly lower indicator is mainly because it reflects a time lag between the survey and the present market situation. It is inherent in the mechanism that we have because the data we collected relates to the period from April (April 2) last year to (April 1) this year. So this will have an impact on the figures that we obtained. But it is for this reason that the mechanism doesn't just rely on indicators. As many union representatives also spelt out today: there are other factors, two of which are very dear to the heart of the unions: first is their aspirations, their demands, second is the overall morale of the civil service. These two will feature prominently when I meet with the eight major unions towards the end of this month. We will bear in mind their concerns, their rationale, their justifications, together with the other factors in the mechanism before we formulate a final proposal for recommendations to the Chief Executive in Council.
 
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

Ends/Thursday, May 18, 2017
Issued at HKT 22:12

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