PM hints 'relief' for civil servants

PUTRAJAYA: (Jan 11, 2007): Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has hinted the government might be able to give some "relief" to civil servants in terms of the salary revision sought by Cuepacs, the umbrella union for government employees.

The prime minister said the government was adopting an open mind in the matter and would scrutinise all the reasons submitted by Cuepacs on the salary revision which was last carried out in 1991.

Among the factors that would be taken into account in making any decision were the government's financial capacity and the benefits that should be given to the public sector employees.

"The government has to study all these factors. The reason is that there must be (financial) capacity. And I believe that with the spirit of give and take, we can achieve something that will give relief to everyone," he said.

According to Bernama, Abdullah said this in his speech at the 7th annual gathering of civil servants in the Putrajaya International Convention Centre here.

Cuepacs had submitted a proposal for a salary revision of between 10% and 40%.

A 40% pay increase was proposed for the support group II, Grades 1 to 16, which is the lowest group in the public sector while for the support group I, Grades 17 to 26 and Grades 27 to 40, the proposed increase was 30%.

For the management and professional group, Grades 41 to 54, Cuepacs had proposed a 20% increase while for Key Posts in the Public Sector (Jusa), a 10% hike was proposed.

Abdullah said although a pay revision had not been carried out for quite some time, the government had given other allowances to the civil servants from time to time.

"It's not that nothing had been given. It's just that we have not carried out a salary revision for quite some time," he added.