Factoring Hong Kong’s deadly Tai Po fire into a civil service pay review has dealt a blow to staff morale and risks creating perceptions of populism, unions have warned, saying a proposed 2 per cent across-the-board rise fails to offset inflation or reflect overall performance. Human resources experts, however, said public sentiment had to be considered as pay adjustments involved allocating taxpayers’ money, while the modest rise would have very limited impact on the private sector. The...