Hongkong Post’s shift to two-year contracts affects about 200 postal officers and postmen who had completed probation. Announced in mid-August, the change means they will not receive long-term employment terms. The future of their jobs after the contracts end has become a concern for staff and their representatives.
Civil Service Secretary Ingrid Yeung Ho Poi-yan said the government is considering giving affected staff priority when they apply for other government posts. It is also looking at a trial arrangement for those seeking to move to a different job grade, modelled on the process for regular civil servants.
Under that existing process, an employee’s original post is held during a trial that can last one, one and a half or two years, until the employee is considered able to stay permanently in the new role. The government is considering comparable terms for the postal workers on contract. A worker who did not meet the trial standard could keep their original post; someone who transferred successfully could retain their current salary if the new job’s starting pay was lower.
In late August, the chief executive said special arrangements during the transition were inevitable and asked Hongkong Post and the Civil Service Bureau to help staff as far as possible.
The president of the Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants’ Association questioned what would happen when the two-year contracts ended. He described the arrangement as almost equivalent to dismissal, or “two years’ notice”, and said it would not help postal reform.
Yeung said the affected staff’s main requests were reasonable and that the government expected to announce arrangements before long.