KOTA KINABALU: Cuepacs’ call for the basic salary of civil servants to be raised to at least RM850 or RM920 a month has received warm response.
In a random survey here yesterday, several public sector employees felt that the minimum wage policy proposed by Cuepacs would be a welcome relief to the support group, especially those with families as the cost of living was getting higher.
Dayrrl Dominic, 31, a warden at the Henry Gurney Prisons School in Keningau, said that although his basic salary was now above RM1,000 a month, it was attained after 11 years working with the Prison Department.
He said his starting basic salary was only RM489 and after adding allowances, he took home about RM600 a month.
Ros Barinau, 29, a nurse at a government hospital, said although her basic salary was higher than the proposed minimum wage, she and her colleagues felt the pinch when they had to travel to the interior as the disturbance allowance was not enough to offset the expenses.
“When I had to serve in Beluran sometime ago, I received a disturbance allowance of slightly over RM100.
But when I rented a vehicle to go to the
nearest town to buy groceries, it already cost me RM200. It is not enough,” she said.
She said the burden faced by civil servants working in the interior should be looked into when determining the minimum wage policy.
Julita Benjamin, a Kota Kinabalu City Hall employee, hoped the state government would also consider reviewing the salary structure of the state civil service.
She said the salaries should be commensurate with the duties entrusted as there were cases of subordinate officers shouldering the duties of their bosses but were not justly rewarded.— Bernama