The SundayDaily
Posted on 15 April 2015 - 05:02pm
Last updated on 15 April 2015 - 05:33pm
KUALA LUMPUR: It has been 13 years and the
government has yet to review the wages for civil servants, said Public
and Civil Services Employees' Union Congress (Cuepacs).
Its president Datuk Azih Muda said the government needs to review the
wages as civil servants are unable to support themselves under the
current pay scheme.
"The government is supposed to have periodic reviews every five years
but have not done so in the past 13 years. Even the basic wages need to
be raised to at least RM1,200," he said at a Cuepacs gathering at the
CIDB Convention Centre here today.
He said the current basic pay of RM850, not including various
benefits and allowances, at the lowest level of civil service is below
the government's mandated poverty line of RM880.
Coupled with current economic uncertainty along with the
implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), he said, most low
level civil servants who work on the front lines have to take up second
jobs to support themselves and their families.
"How many among us here have to work night jobs to support ourselves
and our families by driving taxis, serving tables in restaurants and
doing other menial jobs just to make a living?" Azih asked at the
Cuepacs gathering.
He said it is unthinkable that civil servants have to live with a
basic wage below the poverty line when urbanites who earn less than
RM3,000 a month are barely scraping by.
Azih said this is especially evident in housing, where low level
civil servants, which make up 70% of the civil service, cannot afford a
decent house due to inflated prices and often had to live with another
civil servant's family under the same roof.
"We could only look at housing developments springing up all over the
place while we cannot afford the houses ourselves," he said to roars of
approval from those present.
Azih hopes the government will review the 252 salary schemes and
allowances before Labour Day on May 1, and set the enforcement date as
Jan 1, 2015 so civil servants can get the increase for the entire 2015.
He added that Cuepacs fully supports the leadership of Prime Minister
Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak but merely wants promises to be kept and
that the welfare of the civil service taken care of
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