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Mary Ann Benitez

The cash-strapped Hospital Authority plans to cut the pay of all its 50,000 employees by between 1.58 per cent and 4.42 per cent in line with the civil service pay adjustment.

As a gesture to staff ahead of the cut, up to 40 senior executives have accepted a pay cut of eight per cent, and the authority's Chief Executive, Dr William Ho Shiu-wei, will have his salary cut by 8.4 per cent when his contract is renewed for another three years in October.

This means Dr Ho's annual remuneration package will range from $3.75 million to $4.53 million - or about $312,500 to $377,500 a month.

In contrast, a medical officer earning $40,000 a month will lose about $800 a month and a nurse earning $17,000 will be $340 worse off.

It is estimated that the pay cuts will mean savings of about $400 million for the authority, which spends $24 billion a year on staff pay.

The voluntary gesture by senior executives was met with scepticism last night, with a legislator accusing the authority of using it to encourage staff to accept the cuts.

Authority chairman Dr Lo Ka-shui said senior management had set a good example and he hoped that all employees would pull together to get through the difficult economic times. All chief executives in charge of several hospitals and other chief executives agreed to an eight per cent cut, he said.

Dr Ho accepted a pay package 10 per cent lower than his predecessor, Secretary for Health and Welfare Yeoh Eng-kiong, when he was appointed in 1999.

The pay cuts are expected to take effect in October. Upper-ranked staff will have a salary cut of 4.42 per cent, the middle rank 1.64 per cent and the lower rank 1.58 per cent, the authority announced yesterday after its board endorsed the adjustment.

The move will be subject to a final decision by the Government, which is locked in a dispute with 180,000 civil servants over plans to legislate for the one-off civil service pay cut.

The authority yesterday appointed an independent consultant to review the pay packages of its senior executives.

Legislator for the medical sector Dr Lo Wing-lok said there was still room to 'trim the fat' among overpaid executives who were being redeployed instead of retiring.

Legislator for the health-care sector Michael Mak Kwok-fung accused the authority of 'arm-twisting' its staff by revealing that its senior officials and Dr Ho were accepting even higher cuts.

'This should not be encouraged. You are trying to force your subordinates to do the same thing and accept this harsh choice,' he said.

Under the Employment Ordinance, an employer can cut staff pay with the latter's consent. If employees do not agree to the pay cut, they can be dismissed. Dr Leung Ka-lau, president of the Public Doctors' Association, said: 'We were not informed about this [the cut] in advance. We do not know what the rush is when the Government has not settled the pay cut [issue].'

Joseph Lee Kok-lung, chairman of the 18,000-strong Association of Hong Kong Nursing Staff, said the senior executives' pay cut was 'a good gesture which will show staff we are all in this together'.

However, he said he hoped the move would be followed by consultation with staff.

Tjiu Cheung-san, chairman of the Frontline Doctors' Union, said the group did not object to a 'reasonable' pay cut.

The union is negotiating with the authority for renewal of training contracts. The Hospital Authority earlier this month announced a pay freeze for all new recruits from next month.

The authority recorded a $200 million budget deficit last year, the first in its history. The figure is projected to rise to $580 million this financial year.



Hospital body to cut pay for 50,000