THE Government has told striking social work assistants they will not get more pay because their argument lacks ''indisputable logic''.
The Director of Social Welfare, Ian Strachan, said the Government would not be held to ransom by industrial action and would pay no heed to the protesters' one-month settlement deadline.
He called for the strike to be called off and for differences to be settled around the negotiating table.
''We are not going to achieve anything in this exercise by confrontation. The only way to achieve anything is by negotiation,'' he said.
''The door remains open for negotiation on our side.'' A task group has been set up to look into the pay claim. But Mr Strachan indicated that no matter how much discussion took place, the social work assistants' case was too weak.
''The only way [they will win a better deal] is to provide indisputable logic [that they deserve more], and so far this has not been produced,'' he said.
Members of the social work assistant branch of the Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants' Association are refusing to work because they believe they should be higher in the pay scale than senior welfare workers, They began a three-day sit-in at more than a dozen centres - including juvenile correction institutes, rehabilitation centres and homes for the elderly - at midnight on Sunday.
