Jaringan Pekerja Kontrak Kerajaan (JPKK) said it carried out a study as recently as 2020, which indicated the government would save RM250 million a year if cleaners and security guards were reabsorbed into the civil service.
Cleaners and security guards in schools and hospitals were part of the civil service until 1997, when their job functions were outsourced to the private sector.
There have been calls for contract workers to be reabsorbed into the civil service over mounting complaints of non-payment of the minimum wages and labour-related abuses.
Christine Gabriel, a spokesman for JPKK, said the “Study on Direct Employment of Contract Workers in Government Agencies” was based on government data on its expenses for contract services.
According to her, the study estimated the outsourcing of security guards at schools cost the government RM1.5 billion, while the companies that secured the contracts only paid just over RM1 billion in salaries.
“Therefore, it is estimated that the government paid a premium of RM500 million for the contracts,” she said, citing an excerpt from the study.
Christine said the government could have created more jobs for the Bottom 10 (B10) households through direct employment.
She said although the aim of privatising certain services in 1997 was to reduce government expenditure, Putrajaya’s own data did not support this claim.
“The latest claim by the minister that it would be expensive to place them in the civil service is unsubstantial, premature and delusional,” she said.
On Wednesday, Sabah and Sarawak affairs and special functions minister Armizan Ali said the government has no plans to absorb contract cleaners in schools and hospitals into the civil service because of the financial implications, especially in the payment of pensions.
Penang MTUC secretary K Veeriah, meanwhile, said services at government facilities should not be operated by private companies.
He also said this would prevent the government from being linked to labour abuses by private companies.
“In such circumstances, I would argue that the cleaners should be absorbed into the civil service, giving them the security of employment and benefits of being in one,” he said.
Former Klang MP Charles Santiago said if the government was not keen to reabsorb cleaners into the civil service, it should insist contractors provide the same wages and benefits enjoyed by government employees.
“The government should get the contractors to amend the agreements they have with these cleaners and insist they pay minimum wage, and EPF and Socso benefits,” he said.