Cuepacs seeks one month Hari Raya bonus for civil servants

KANGAR: The Congress of Unions of Employees in the Civil Service (Cuepacs) has urged the government to consider giving a month's bonus to the 1.6 million civil servants for Hari Raya Aidilfitri.
Its president, Datuk Azih Muda said the request was reasonable and a necessity, taking into account the Raya celebrations, price increases and the current rising cost of living.
"Looking at the current economic situation, the one month bonus will certainly be good news to government staff in easing their financial burden as well, as an appreciation for services rendered," he said.
He was speaking to reporters after the end of the Perlis Cuepacs Tri-Annual Delegates Conference 2016-2019 session at the Dewan Angkatan Pertahanan Awam here today.
Meanwhile, Azih also called on state governments which could afford and have a surplus of income to consider giving bonuses to civil servants in their respective states.
Azih also urged the government to review and coordinate several categories of civil servant allowances which were felt irrelevant.
"For example, the civil service allowance has not changed since the last 14 years despite rising living standards, while the cost of living allowance (Cola) for civil servants is also not uniform.
"It is time the government standardised the Cola for civil servants, regardless of urban or rural areas as for example in Perlis, house prices and rents are higher or equal to the price of homes in Selangor," he noted.
Therefore, the government should help civil servants in such areas, whereas for civil servants in Kuala Lumpur and other cities, the government can create a new allowance such as a "city allowance", for instance, he said. — Bernama