New salary scheme for technical staff in Budget 2014 – Cuepacs chief KUCHING: Technicians and technical, and vocational education trained (TVET) semi-professionals throughout the country will soon receive a windfall following the introduction of a new salary structure for this group of workers. To be backdated from July 1 this year, the new salary scheme is expected to be announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak when tabling Budget 2014 in Parliament soon. Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) president Datuk Omar Osman said with the new remuneration scheme, all the 45,000 serving technicians and TVET semi-professionals in the federal and state civil service departments, statutory bodies and agencies will automatically be upgraded to grade J29 from their present J17, J22 or J26 grades. “This new scheme was confirmed during our briefing with the Public Service Department on Sept 10 and that it will take effect from July 1,” he told reporters after delivering his keynote address at the inaugural National Conference for Technicians & TVET Semi-Professionals – SwakCREATE 2013 here yesterday. He said this was part of the government’s recognition of the contribution of technicians and TVET semi-professionals who, prior to this, were considered very lowly paid compared with their counterparts working in the private sector. As part of the transformation programme, he also said the post of technicians in the public service sector will be abolished and renamed as assistant engineers effective January 1 next year. He added that by then this group of officers will be given special uniforms so that they can go down to the fields and sites instead of staying back in the office doing administrative work. “We want the present technicians and TVET semi-professionals in the civil service to be upgraded to a higher level not only in terms of salary but also in the nature of their job scopes. This is the kind of transformation that we hope to see,” he said. To the present technicians, especially those from the younger generation, he advised them to be ready to face the new challenge so as to justify the new salary scheme they would be getting. “Based on the present structure where the starting salary for technicians is only RM820 the upgrading is really going to be a big jump especially for those who are still under grades J17, J22 and J26. “On top of that, promotions also will be time-based or based on years of their service and no longer static like what has been going on all these while,” he said. Omar said this certainly will come as a piece of good news not only to those in the technical line but also their families and concerned members of the public. With the new structure, he hopes that more people will choose technical fields as a preferred profession and not just as their second choice. BP 9/10/13
Posted on: Wed, 09 Oct 2013 00:11:52 +0000
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