Union Fears Exodus Of Young Civil Servants Over Oath

The chairman of the Federation of Civil Service Unions, Leung Chau-ting, warned on Sunday that more young civil servants would want to leave the government rather than sign an oath of allegiance to the Basic Law and the SAR.

Speaking on RTHK’s City Forum, Leung said the remuneration package for young civil servants was not particularly good, while middle-ranking public servants would be headhunted by the private sector.

He said imposing new restrictions on such staff would reduce the attractiveness of government jobs.

Leung added that he believed civil servants would be very careful about what they said as they were worried they could be prosecuted over their comments.

Former pro-democracy lawmaker Gary Fan, meanwhile, accused the government of suppressing civil servants’ freedom of speech in a heavy-handed way.

However, a former secretary for home affairs, David Lan, supported the oath of allegiance, saying civil servants should not criticise or oppose the government when they were acting in their public capacity.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam has previously said civil servants have always been expected to support the government, and the pledge of allegiance is not an extra requirement.

The territory's 180,000 government workers have until mid-February to sign a declaration or take an oath, with those who fail to do so running the risk of being dismissed.

The government said “any act that aims to undermine the government in the governance and administration of Hong Kong” could be deemed a breach of the oath.

Civil service unions say such terms are too vague, leaving many of their members uneasy about what exactly could be seen as breaking the pledge.