GEORGE TOWN: Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) hopes that the government will consider and accept its proposal to make permanent civil servants eligible to contribute to the Social Security Organisation (Socso).
Cuepacs president Datuk Omar Osman said the proposal, which was made after a series of surveys, would be submitted to the Public Service Department for further discussions.
“Last May, civil servants employed on temporary or contract basis were made eligible to contribute to Socso and it is indeed a good development and we hope it can be extended to those with permanent status earning RM7,000 or less per month.
“The scheme offered by Socso is much better compared with the ex-gratia scheme to protect the welfare of civil servants and their families should anything happens to them while in service,” he told reporters after opening the Penang Cuepacs delegates meeting here today.
Meanwhile, Omar also expressed hope that Cuepacs members, who have been appointed as members of the Consumer Squad under the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry, could become the eyes and ears of the government in monitoring the price of consumer products in view of the upcoming Ramadan and Hari Raya Aidilfitri.
He said this was vital to ensure that traders would not raise the price of consumer products at their whim and fancy following the special salary movement to be enjoyed by civil servants effective July 1.
“They should report immediately to the ministry should they find any consumer products that are being sold at unreasonable prices,” he said.
In another development, Omar also repeated his call to the government to consider increasing the housing allowance to RM450, standardising the cost of living allowance and allowing civil servants to withdraw 20 per cent of the gratuity at the age of 50 in the 2014 Budget.
“The withdrawal is necessary to help the civil servants to pay for their children’s education or to perform Umrah, go travel or repair their houses without having to take loan from banks or any financial institutions,” he added. — Bernama