Our Hands Are Tied Rafizi Tells Cuepacs On Pay Rises

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Economy minister Rafizi Ramli has urged the civil service union federation to understand the government’s financial constraints.PETALING JAYA: Economy minister Rafizi Ramli has urged civil service labour federation Cuepacs to understand the government’s financial constraints when making demands, such as increasing the minimum wage in the public services.
According to Utusan Malaysia, Rafizi said the government understood that such demands were to alleviate the cost of living among civil servants, adding that this is one of Putrajaya’s top priorities.
“But we all know, and I am sure Cuepacs is also aware, that the government has constraints. What the federal government and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim want to implement may not be able to be fulfilled immediately.
“But we want to focus on the issue of salaries. I’m sure that employees will also understand that their employer has constraints,” Rafizi added.
He reiterated that a progressive salary model cannot be implemented out of the blue and said the government will need to set annual targets.
“In the next five to ten years, our financial capacity will also determine how we gradually implement a more progressive salary policy.”
Yesterday, Cuepacs president Adnan Mat urged the Cabinet to immediately approve the proposal to set up a task force to review salary schemes of the public services.
Cuepacs had proposed a RM180 annual salary increment for government servants, an increase in cost of living allowances, and for the minimum appointment grade to start at Grade 19.
On Friday, the prime minister had promised to review salaries of public servants as no adjustments have been made since 2013. Anwar, who is also finance minister, said the salary scheme will be discussed at the Cabinet meeting this week. - FMT

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