Workers to seek cash for lost jobs
ELECTRICAL and Mechanical Services Department staff have pledged to seek compensation for any redundancies caused by ''privatisation''.
Staff were told on Monday in a letter from the department head, Hugh Phillipson, that they might have to choose voluntary redundancy because of job reductions arising from commercialisation.
Mr Phillipson said the department was ''aiming for trading fund status next year'' in order to improve flexibility and competency.
A trading fund allows a department to keep any surplus revenue and allocate it as it sees fit, instead of paying the revenue to the Treasury.
In line with public sector reforms introduced in 1989, the department started commercialising its services two years ago by, for example, charging other departments for vehicle maintenance.
This has led to requests from client departments for freedom to choose services from either the department or the private sector, in order to save costs.
Unionists said the move would affect at least 3,000 lower-ranking officers.
Fung Siu-ming, vice-president of the union covering the department's works supervisors and craftsman, said: ''At least 3,000 workers and supervisors will be affected or made redundant when their services are not competitive enough and not wanted by other departments.'' Mr Phillipson admitted in the letter that the workload would drop.
Department spokesman Tony Au Yeung Yu said: ''There will be no mass redundancy even though some may lose jobs. But the number will be very small.''
