SIBU: The Congress of the Union of Employees in the Public and Civil Service (Cuepacs) wants the government to review some alarming issues faced by civil servants.
Its president, Datuk Azih Muda, said one of the issues faced by more than 30 percent of civil servants is work pressure which caused high level of stress.
“Stress can cause depression and those affected are not able to do their best, thus leading to lower productivity,” he said at a press conference here yesterday.
“Therefore, Cuepacs wants the government to review the level of stress faced by civil servants.”
According to him, stress has caused many civil servants to retire early and many can no longer serve.
“We are worried that stress-induced depression would interfere with their performance and productivity,” he explained.
He believed that the causes of stress should be identified so that a more comprehensive study could be carried out to assist workers to deal with stress.
Azih said other than the problem of stress, Cuepacs felt that the cost of living was a very heavy burden for civil servants wherever they are.
“As such, Cuepacs is asking the government to consider revising the cost of living allowance to provide some relief to them,” he said.
In line with this, he said Cuepacs once again requested that the regional allowances for Sabah and Sarawak be revised also because it has not been revised for a long time.
He said that the allowance was last revised in 2012 while the regional allowance has not been revised since 1966.
“That was the first and the last time that the regional allowance was revised,” he said.
Sarawak has 35,000 civil servants while Sabah has about 42,000.
Sarawak Cuepacs chairman, Ahmad Malie, was among those present at the press conference.
