ANGRY expatriate civil servants are warning they are once again poised to take legal action in the wake of new measures to speed up the pace of localisation, announced in Governor Chris Patten's policy address.
Union leaders will this week meet Deputy Secretary for the Civil Service Stuart Harbinson to protest that no expatriate has yet managed to have his contract renewed under the controversial new policy announced in July.
Association of Expatriate Civil Servants (AECS) chairman Allan Roger said they were also unhappy with Mr Patten's announcement that more positions would be reserved for locals or Chinese speakers in the Legal and Legal Aid departments.
''Anyone can see this is just being used as a way to get rid of the new policy,'' he said. ''We're almost back to the position where we were when the Government announced its change to the new policy.'' The AECS's previous threat to take legal action led to the Government's abrupt change of policy, in allowing expatriates to switch to local terms, which aroused a storm of protest from local unions.
More than 70 expatriates have since applied for transfer, but none has yet been accepted, while three have been rejected.
Mr Harbinson said the expatriate union was being too hasty. ''I don't think anyone should be jumping to conclusions on the basis of what has happened to a few applications.'' But Mr Roger warned legal action could follow within weeks. ''If the new policy is administered in a way that denies everyone the right to transfer it will be just as illegal as the old policy,'' he said.
