The UGT announced today that it hopes the new government will not accept the preliminary proposal of the Commission for the Sustainability of Social Security, which, according to the newspaper Expresso, envisages changes to early retirement schemes.
The Commission for the Sustainability of Social Security argues that the possibility of early retirement at the age of 57 for those who have exhausted unemployment benefit should be ended and that, in the remaining modalities, access should keep pace with the legal age, reports Expresso, citing a preliminary version of the Social Security Green Paper.
The commission’s preliminary document was delivered on March 28 to the former Minister of Labor, Solidarity and Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho, and will also be handed over to the new executive that took office on Tuesday, namely to the new minister of the portfolio, Maria do Rosário Palma Ramalho.
Reacting to the news, the UGT said it hopes that the commission’s potential proposal “does not mean that it will be accepted as the government’s proposal”, and expressed its surprise at the release of the document in the media, to which the social partners did not have access.
The UGT stresses that it “does not support radical solutions that jeopardize social protection in old age and the solidarity that led to the amendment of the legislation on early retirement, in a clear sign of valuing long and very long contributory careers”.
“The changes to be made should be aimed at completing the reform carried out in 2018, building a fairer and more balanced system and eliminating the unjustified application of the sustainability factor in situations of anticipation/flexibility of the retirement age,” argues the trade union center.
The UGT considers it “unacceptable” that Social Security “can be used as a political weapon”, arguing that this area has always gained “from discussing and building solutions with the social partners”, stressing that it is “fundamental” that the new government “makes it clear that the social partners are its first line of information and solution-building”.
The commission, created by the previous Socialist government in September 2022, includes experts Ana Fernandes, Amílcar Moreira, Armindo Silva, Manuel Caldeira Cabral, Susana Peralta and Vítor Junqueira.
According to Expresso, the experts believe that the rules for automatically adjusting the retirement age to changes in average life expectancy should also apply to early retirement.
The committee proposes ending the early pension for long-term unemployment, which is possible from the age of 57 after unemployment benefit has run out.
On the other hand, the early pension for long-term unemployment, which is possible from the age of 62, after unemployment benefit has been exhausted, should be adjusted and only awarded to those who are no more than three years away from the legal retirement age.
The committee also argues that the age of access to the flexible early retirement pension, which is currently possible at 60 for those with 40 years or more of contributions, should be five years higher than the legal age.
This year, the normal retirement age without penalties is 66 years and four months.
