THE Public Service Division (PSD) will make an announcement soon about year-end bonuses and salaries for civil servants, Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said yesterday.
I remember that one of the reasons given last year by our gahmen to increase the pay of our top civil servants was to retain talent in the civil service.
Given the current economic recession, even many talented people(eg. directors and vice-presidents of DBS) in the private sector face retrenchment. So, giving top civil servants so as to retain them in the civil service is currently not a valid reason. Don't believe me? Well, let's do an experiment. Give all top civil servants( especially those earning a 5-figure or more monthly salary) a steep pay cut and dare them to resign and find another job. My bet is that if they resign now, it will be hard for many of them to find another job with better pay in the private sector.
The country moves forward together when the level of hunger pangs is felt both in the public and private sectors, and the feeling of being in dire stratits will give us all the push to do better for our survival and upkept of our motherland.
Pay cuts? Really? That's for the rank-and-file I suppose. Top civil servants will have their benchmark adjusted from 77% to 88% of the top 8 earners. So they'll take a 'pay cut' in name.
The worse thing happening is when servants turn to be your master. That is what seems to be happening here in our country. During election campaign, those candidates outsell each other that they will serve the pupil/people and see that the electrorate(or illetirates) welness be taken care. But once elected into the office, they start to execute their personal welfare at the expence of the people money and trun to be masters of the pupil/people. Sad , so sad way to enrich one self using the poverty of the general public sweat earnings. How to pay taxation when my earnings is not enough to pay for water? Any cure formula?
Rich government (officers only) but poor folks still begging and hoping at the "task-masters' mercies. Poor ROS citizens, ministers please give me my fish, not just fish bone without meat. I am starving for last one year you know what.
Top people should bear the main brunt of any wage cut. After all, during boom times, the top people are the ones who gain the most in terms of wage increment and bonuses. 10% wage cut and bonuses for just one perm sec could be equivalent to a month salary of dunno how many rank and file staff. So if want to save on manpower cost, start from the top.
November 22, 2008 Saturday, 03:59 AM
