NTUC's response to Civil Service Mid-Year Payment 2008
28 May 2008
MEDIA STATEMENT
1 The Public Service Division (PSD) at the Prime Minister’s Office has announced the Civil Service Mid-Year Payment for 2008, whereby civil servants will receive a mid-year Annual Variable Component (AVC) of 0.5 month and a dollar quantum ranging between $100 to $300.
2 The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and our eight affiliated civil service unions are pleased that the Government continues to reward civil servants for their contributions, especially the lower wage group, with the mid-year AVC and a dollar quantum. Accordingly, Division 3 and 4 officers will receive more in dollar quantum – $250 and $300 respectively – than Division 1 and 2 officers who will receive $100. We feel that the dollar quantum, which the Government has been giving since 2005, will encourage lower wage civil servants to perform even better as it forms a larger percentage of their wages.
3 We are glad the Government has also followed the National Wages Council’s recommendations to use variable payments to reward workers and to grant a one-off special payment to help rank-and-file workers, particularly lower wage workers, cope with the impact of inflation. This year, the higher dollar quantum for the lower wage civil servants will mean a lot more to them as it also serves to help them cope better with rising cost of living and inflationary pressures.
4 This year’s Civil Service Mid-Year Payment has been concluded after close consultation and negotiations between representatives from NTUC and the civil service unions with PSD. We are glad that PSD has taken our views into consideration in concluding the mid-year payment.
5 We also hope that the private sector will take the cue from the civil service to reward their workers fairly and adequately – ensuring that built-in wage increase would be sustainable in the long-run and lag behind productivity growth, and to pay particular attention to lower wage workers by extending a special one-off payment to offset the rising cost of living and inflation. We urge the tripartite partners and workers to continue to work hard together so that Singapore’s economy will continue to perform well in 2008 despite the economic uncertainties that lie ahead.
Mdm Halimah Yacob
Deputy Secretary-General
National Trades Union Congress
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Additional Quotes from Unionists:
a) Mr Teo Yock Ngee
General Secretary, Amalgamated Union of Public Employees, and
Secretary for Financial Affairs, National Trades Union Congress
“The AUPE welcomes PSD’s decision to give a higher one-off dollar quantum to the lower-wage workers. As the cost of the inflation has gone up quite quickly over the past year, this special payment will motivate our workers to continue to work hard so that we can all help Singapore do well this year.”
b) Mr G Muthukumarasamy
General Secretary, Amalgamated Union of Public Daily Rated Workers
“For AUPDRW’s union members, who are daily-rated workers, the announcement of a higher dollar quantum for them means a lot as this sum of money will go a long way to help them offset some of their living expenses. We are glad that the Government has accepted the civil service unions’ recommendations and that our workers can benefit from this mid-year payment.”
