CE announces salary increase to civil servants, calls on casinos to follow suit

The Chief Executive (CE), Ho Iat Seng, has said a proposal to increase government workers’ salaries was sent to the Committee for Evaluation of the Remuneration of Civil Servants two months ago.

Ho was responding to lawmakers’ questions about the topic during Friday’s Legislative Assembly plenary session dedicated to a question-and-answer session with members.

Although the CE did not state the increase in percentual terms, he said “next year [would] be … good timing for a salary increase.”

“We already presented a proposal to the Committee for Evaluation of the Remuneration of Civil Servants some two months ago. I believe [2024] is a good year for salary increase but I am not the one deciding over that matter. There is a mechanism to decide on this and the workers are also part of it,” the CE said, adding also that a different proposal to raise the minimum wage is also in discussion at the Standing Committee for the Coordination of Social Affairs.

At the same opportunity, the CE also called on the gaming concessionaires, which are the six major employers besides the government, to follow suit and take this opportunity to increase their workers’ salaries.

Although Ho admitted that is not up to the government to push private entities in any way or interfere in their internal decisions, he hopes those major companies can assume their social responsibilities.

“I can only negotiate with the gaming concessionaires and hope that post-pandemic they can assume their social responsibilities. We can and will follow up on this matter, but we cannot order them to do so. This we cannot do, as the government cannot interfere in the market,” the CE remarked.