Doctors' representatives resigned from a Hospital Authority consultative body yesterday to express their anger at the management's handling of a pay cut proposal.
Ho Pak-leung, president of the Public Doctors' Association, said the authority had begun sending letters to thousands of non-civil-servant doctors, seeking their consent for a 5.38 per cent pay cut.
'We are disappointed ... there was no staff consultation and we were told earlier this month that staff who refused to accept a pay cut would be fired,' he said.
A bill seeking to cut senior civil servants' pay by 5.38 per cent has been tabled to the Legislative Council. But whether it will be passed is subject to lawmakers' approval after scrutiny by a bills committee, which has yet to convene its first meeting.
Doctors not on civil service appointments require separate consent under the general labour law.
In a letter to the authority's chief executive, Shane Solomon, all 16 members of the Doctors Staff Group Consultative Committee submitted their resignations in protest at the management's 'threatening tactic' in obtaining staff consent for a pay cut. They demanded an apology from the committee chairman, Cheung Wai-lun.
