Cabinet briefing on pay rise ‘in next few weeks’

NST

PUTRAJAYA: The cabinet is expected to be briefed about the salary hike for civil servants within the next few weeks.

Among others, members of the cabinet are expected to discuss the quantum of increase based on recommendations made by the Public Service Department (PSD).

"The proposal will have to go through the normal procedures. A cabinet paper is being prepared to enable the ministers to discuss the matter before it is endorsed," said a source.

The source said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was likely to make an announcement on the matter soon.

Abdullah had announced on Monday that the time had come for a salary revision for the country’s 1.2 million civil servants.
The prime minister had said that civil servants in both the support and management categories deserved a pay rise.

Earlier this year, the Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Service (Cuepacs) had proposed a pay increment of between 10 and 40 per cent.

The congress had proposed a rise of 40 per cent for support group II (Grades 1 to 16), which made up the lowest category of public employees, and an increase of 30 per cent for support group I (Grades 17 to 26 and Grades 27 to 40).

For the management and professional group (Grades 41 to 54), Cuepacs had proposed an increase of 20 per cent and for those in the premier grade, it had proposed a salary rise of 10 per cent.