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Sunday, October 12, 2014

Civil servants lukewarm to Budget 2015 as wage structure not addressed

Cuepacs president Azih Muda says the group had asked for a two-month bonus. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, October 12, 2014.Cuepacs president Azih Muda says the group had asked for a two-month bonus. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, October 12, 2014.
Despite a bonus and expanded housing loans, civil servants are lukewarm to Budget 2015, said Cuepacs, the umbrella group that represents civil service unions.
They point to the fact that the budget did not fully address the underlying issue of restructuring their wage schemes.
Cuepacs, which represents 70% of about 1.5 million civil servants, said many of their demands on housing aid and salary increase were not met by the government.
“Much of what we asked for was not fulfilled,” Cuepacs president Azih Muda told The Malaysian Insider.
What they were hoping for was for extensions to the repayment period of their housing loans.
They also wanted an increase in the housing allowance, which is currently RM180 a month, said Azih.
“The price of fuel has gone up and we were hoping that the housing allowance would also go up to help us deal with that.
“We are disappointed not to get an increase in the housing allowance. We are appealing that the government reconsider our request to increase it,” he said.
Under Budget 2015, the government increased the minimum eligibility for the civil service's housing loan scheme from RM80,000 to RM120,000 and the maximum eligibility limit from RM450,000 to RM600,000.
An additional 5,380 units of houses under the Civil Servants' Housing Scheme or PPA1M would also be built in Bukit Jalil, Putrajaya, Sabah and Kedah.
At the same time, the government said it would spend RM50 million to repair military, police, medical staff and teachers’ quarters nationwide
The most prominent Budget 2015 initiative for the civil service was a half-month bonus, with a minimum payout of RM500 to be paid in January. Pensioners, meanwhile, would get a special payment of RM250.
For their salaries, the government said it would continue improving the wage schemes in the public service but said there would be no revision next year.
Yet, these announcements left civil servants disappointed, said Azih.
The vast majority of civil servants – about 60% or 630,000 of those whom Cuepacs represents – earn RM3,000 and below a month.
These people include policemen, soldiers, nurses and teachers – who form the majority of public sector workers.
Azih was sceptical that the government would follow through on the promise to raise wages through improvements in their public service salary schemes.
“The government said it had already improved 81 out of 252 schemes. But from what we know, only six of the 81 have actually been upgraded. These are in the technical fields.
“The rest (75 schemes) have not been upgraded or have not seen any pay rise.”
On their half-month bonus, Azih had this to say: “We actually asked for two months”.
- TMI

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