Cuepacs: Govt needs to review wages for civil servants

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.