The government’s commitment to review the salary scale of civil servants, especially at the lower level, is seen as a good step that would have a positive effect on private sector workers.

National Association of Skilled Workers (PKPB) secretary-general Mohammad Rizan Hassan said this was because the private sector looked at the seriousness and determination of the government for matters involving civil servants first before taking similar measures to be implemented in their organisations.

“Recently, the issue of minimum wage has been raised quite a lot, and often in the private sector, employers say the government needs to start first in terms of (implementing) the minimum wage.

“I am confident that if the government is prepared to review the salary scale of civil servants and put a minimum wage at the public level, eventually the private sector will also take the same step,” he told Bernama TV when contacted here yesterday.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in conjunction with Labour Day on May 1 stated that the time had come for an assessment and review of the unsatisfactory salaries of civil servants, especially at the lower levels.

In the meantime, Mohammad Rizan said workers needed to look at the importance of ‘upskilling’ and ‘reskilling’, in addition to cultivating lifelong learning so that the element of productivity becomes a lifestyle and culture which contributes to the improvement of the national economy.

According to him, the government has also provided many initiatives and incentives to improve the skills of the workforce, but it needed to be more clear and targeted so that the workers understood the opportunities available to them.

Meanwhile, a school laboratory assistant, Siti Aminah Hussein, 30, when contacted by Bernama, hoped that the government’s commitment would bring good news to civil servants, especially for lower-ranked workers like herself.

“It is welcome if the government wants to review (the salary scale) because many graduates are forced to use the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) to apply for jobs in the public sector even though they have higher qualifications.

“The consequence is that these people get a job with an SPM-level qualification that pays very little and as for promotion, it takes about 13 years for a position like mine to get one,” said the civil servant who has been working in the C19 grade for the past three years.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency