KUALA LUMPUR: The Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) is confident that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has the best plan to take care of the welfare of civil servants through the Public Service Remuneration System (SSPA), which is currently being drafted.
President Datuk Dr Adnan Mat said Cuepacs is always open to changes implemented by the government as long as they are good for all.
Adnan said the national remuneration system is reviewed every 10 years, and a new scheme may be introduced.
"In 1992, we had the New Remuneration Scheme (Skim Saraan Baru), where the static salary did not change. In 2002, the country switched to the Malaysian Remuneration System (SSM), where the government established a key performance indicator (KPI) system," he said today.
He added that in 2012, the government also introduced a new salary scheme, but it was abolished and now, the SSM will be replaced by SSPA.
"The SSPA will have its own packages, among them are new appointments (into the civil service) with no pension, but they may be offered better terms. The use of language before this has caused netizens and civil servants to be surprised and give a negative response," he said.
Adnan said as long as the benefits are not less, Cuepacs is confident that Anwar wants to provide better welfare to civil servants without compromising their current status.
"What we want to discuss now is the appointment under the SSPA. The appointment of new civil servants is an interim appointment because once the SSPA comes into force, only then will they be appointed permanently under the new scheme and not under the existing SSM scheme," he said.
On the proposal to give civil servants the option to choose whether they want to contribute to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), Adnan said that civil servants' salaries under SSM are too low and they cannot afford to make contributions like private sector workers.
"It's not that we don't want it, but our salary is still too low. When I say we, I mean civil servants who earned between RM1,500 and RM2,500, and their net salary is only between RM1,000 and RM1,800.We can't afford it.
"If the salary is being increased, of course we also want benefits like those enjoyed by private sector workers," he said.
He said Cuepacs is discussing with the government regarding salaries commensurating with the scheme that is to be introduced for newly appointed civil servants.
"We are not only taking care of the welfare of existing civil servants, but the legacy of civil servants must be taken care of from now on, and their welfare must be taken care of from now on," he said.
Adnan said the civil servants are also interested in making EPF contributions and buying insurance, besides contributing to social security (under Perkeso). However, they find it hard to do so as their salaries are still too low.
He said he agreed that the proposal to scrap pensions should also involve political appointments. Anwar yesterday said the review of pension schemes also applied to such appointments.
He, however, said the matter would be finalised only after the study on the review is brought to the cabinet for a decision.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zahid Hamidi had on Wednesday announced that new civil servant hires from Feb 1 would no longer qualify for pension. They would instead contribute to retirement funds like the EPF.
