THE Government was yesterday urged to be far more generous in finalising annual pay rises for the territory's 180,000 civil servants. Representatives of the Pay Trend Survey Committee said they expected an extra 3.52 per cent rise to be included, which they argue the Government owes them from smaller than expected rises in 1990 and 1991. Chinese Civil Servants Association vice-president Wong Kong-sang said the generous adjustment was deserved because civil servants were now facing ''less promotion opportunities, a higher workload and a more demanding public''. The call came after a committee meeting yesterday in which they and official representatives endorsed the latest pay-trend survey, which proposes an increase of between 9.47 per cent and 9.69 per cent. The survey, conducted by the independent Standing Commission on Civil Service Salaries and Conditions of Service, made the recommendation based on studies of 78 private companies over the 12 months to April 1. Mr Wong said: ''While we have recognised the survey findings as a fair indicator for pay rises, we do expect the Government to finalise the annual increment at a higher rate.'' According to the findings, incremental rates for the upper, middle, and lower-ranking officers were 9.47, 9.89 and 9.69 per cent respectively. Annual merit awards of 1.52, 1.29 and 1.15 per cent have been discounted. The gross figure is slightly lower than the one last year, which averaged 10 per cent due to falls in inflation to 8.1 per cent, committee chairman Nicholas Chiu Sai-chuen said. The Government would modify the figures further for inflation, its financial position and the economy. Mr Wong expected the pay-trend committee to adopt a more accurate method of studying wages next year. The private sector, which traditionally uses the survey as reference for salary rises, has appealed to the Government to be more careful in translating the survey figure into pay rises. Employers' Federation of Hong Kong executive director Chow Mee-yee warned experience showed the Government's adjustment mechanism widened the gap in pay between the private and public sectors. ''This will eventually lead to a much higher rate for pay rises in the public sector,'' said Miss Chow. She said the trend, if continued, would be bad for the Hong Kong economy and intensified unfairness of competition for labour. between the two sectors.
