Hong Kong (RAE - China) - Exemption of public servants from collective bargaining (2012)

The ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR) has repeatedly urged the government not to exclude workers in this sector as a whole from collective bargaining. Nevertheless, the Hong Kong government insists that there is no need for collective bargaining in the public sector, on the grounds that well-established and effective machinery for consultation concerning the conditions and terms of employment of civil servants is in place. However, civil service reforms since 2002, involving transfers, reductions in wages and benefits, retrenchment and contracting-out to the private sector have demonstrated very clearly that the government has been free to act unilaterally without consulting the affected civil servants. Labour relations in the public sector have thus been very strained.