Few employees greet salary increase warmly<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): City administration employees are responding
\ncoolly to the government's decision to raise the salary of civil
\nservants by up to 10 percent starting this month.<\/p>\n
They feel that the raise will not change their economic
\nsituation because it is too small and because commodity prices
\nwere raised long before the announcement.<\/p>\n
\"I am happy with the raise but to tell you the truth, it will
\nnot change my life because the price of most substantial
\ncommodities have been increased since December,\" Jauhari, an
\nemployee of the city administration, told The Jakarta Post
\nyesterday.<\/p>\n
\"Instead of increasing basic salaries,\" he said, \"it would
\nhave been better for the government to increase welfare
\npayments.\"<\/p>\n
Ali, another city administration employee said that the raise
\nwill have a negative impact.<\/p>\n
\"The price of commodities will increase. I would rather have
\nhad an unannounced hike,\" Ali said.<\/p>\n
President Soeharto announced the salary raise on Thursday when
\npresenting the 1995\/96 state budget plan to the House of
\nRepresentatives.<\/p>\n
The President said that the increase would be carried out in
\ntwo stages; the salary raise of Class I and II civil servants
\n(the lowest echelons) will come into effect as of this month and
\nthose in Classes III and IV as of April.<\/p>\n
Jauhari, who has been working as civil servant since 1975,
\nsaid that he would have never become a civil servant given the
\nchoice.<\/p>\n
\"I do not want to be a civil servant but I had no choice. It
\nis hard to get another job,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He is now in Class III with a basic salary of Rp 194,000. With
\nbenefits included he can take home Rp 251,000 per month, which is
\nnot enough to feed his family.<\/p>\n
\"As with any other civil servant, the one who gets the
\nheadache is my wife because she has to manage the money,\" Jauhari
\nsaid, adding that he has to work extra hours for more money.<\/p>\n
Jauhari said that he chose to live in Bogor because the cost
\nof living there is lower than Jakarta, even though he has spend
\ntwo hours every day in a crowded train.<\/p>\n
\"It is cheaper that way, even with the long commute,\" he
\nadded.(yns)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/few-employees-greet-salary-increase-warmly-1447893297",
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