Cuepacs has suggested several reforms to be included in the proposed revamp to the present controversial New Renumeration Scheme (NRS) and is hopeful that a new wage structure will be ready by next January.

Siva Subramaniam, who is head of civil service union, or Cuepacs, said he had held three discussions with the Public Service Department.

Among others, the union has suggested that less emphasis be placed on the importance of the NSR performance assessment report, and the setting up of an appeal panel for civil servants who are dissatisfied with the results of their assessments.

The NRS has been a contentious issue among many civil servants because the heads of department could be bias in the evaluation of their subordinates through the performance assessment report.

The report determines salary increments and promotions of civil servants.

"The prime minister had personally instructed the PSD to finish a report (on a new wage structure) in three months," Siva said when asked to comment on the NRS.

"We're confident the report will be submitted to the government by the end of this year," he said.

Meeting with PM

Siva expressed his confidence that the NRS problems will be resolved by the report which will also recommend the restructuring of the civil service wage system and introduce various suggestions to improve the public service sector.

The union chief also said the premier had also met with him and the union's secretary-general Abdul Rahman Manan.

"We had conveyed to the prime minister the feelings of the civil servants and he has agreed that the issue would be studied," said Siva who explained that the union could not make any announcement on the matter because it is up to the government to do so.

"We're confident that the government is attentive to the plights of 950,000 civil servants," he said, adding that the NRS which was introduced in 1992 was 'outdated'.

"Any salary scheme which is more than 10 years old is no longer suitable. It's about time for everything to be restructured," said Siva.

Besides the NRS, Cuepacs has also requested the government to review the civil servant's pension scheme by giving special attention to the poor.

RM1,000 minimum wage

Among the suggestions, the union has reiterated its proposal for the RM1,000 minimum wage rate for civil servants, a system to ensure that retired civil servants would get a pension of at least three-quarters of their last drawn salary.

According to Siva, the current structure could not provide pensioners with even half of their former salary.

The review for the wage and pension scheme would benefit the needy and indirectly encourage more people to join the public sector, he said.

As for the middle- and upper-level civil servants, the union is calling for the reintroduction of the 'clean wage system' where the pension would take into consideration both basic pay and allowances in its calculations.

Siva cited examples of high-ranking government officials who have huge allowances with lower basic pay would end up receiving low pension because their allowances were not taken in account in the calculation of their pensions.