The Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, has confirmed that the cuts in both voluntary and involuntary early retirements will continue to apply, even for workers who have been contributing to Social Security for more than 40 years. In this way, the minister discards the Bill promoted by Unidas Podemos in which she asked to eliminate the reducing coefficients for those workers with long contribution careers.
For Podemos, this rejection represents “discrimination” for the workers who have contributed the most to the system and considers it “unfair” because it causes pensioners a “lifelong punishment” who sees how, even though they were the ones who worked the most, the amount of their pension is reduced, according to what it states. Europa Press.
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Several retirees speak clearly about retirement at age 65: “We have been working all our lives. I have worked since I was 9 years old, in agriculture.”
Podemos puts pressure on the PSOE and insists: it wants to end the penalty for early retirement with more than 40 years of contributions
For her part, Elma Saiz responded that the pension reform of the last legislature (Law 21/2021) already included sufficient measures. “Early retirement has had different modifications in the original design as a result of the reforms. These changes have been made in accordance with the guidelines established by the recommendations of the Toledo Pact regarding the prolongation of the working life of workers,” he explains.
In this sense, the ASJUBI40 association, which represents more than 900,000 retirees, has criticized the minister’s rejection as “contempt for pensioners with long contribution careers.”
A penalty for those who have contributed the most
The public pension system contemplates that workers who take voluntary or involuntary early retirement must know that the amount of their pension will be reduced through reducing coefficients. These “penalties” can reach up to 30%, in the case of workers with less than 38 years and six months of contributions and who retire at age 61 for reasons beyond their control, that is, forced retirement.
In this sense, the ASJUBI40 association presented, together with Podemos, a Bill requesting the elimination of these reducing coefficients for those with long contribution careers, that is, with more than 40 years of contributions. Let us remember that the General Social Security Law sets 33 years of age to access involuntary early retirement and 35 years for voluntary early retirement.
As Manuel Barrera explained, to access what is known as 100% of the pension, Law 27/2011 (which is the rule that applies the method of calculating the retirement pension) requires having a minimum of 36 years and six months of contributions. That is to say, these workers who decide to retire earlier already have a surplus of 3 and a half years and the rule does not complete any type of benefit, unless they decide to delay the retirement age.
In this sense, it explains that “a worker who has contributed for 52 years, 9 months and 28 days, and decides to retire early two years before the ordinary age, suffers a penalty of 13%, which is the same as another worker who has only contributed for 29 years and retires at his ordinary age. It is totally unfair and breaks with the basic principle of equity and contribution” he points out.
Not only this, but also that workers who have contributed little and their pension does not reach the minimum (and lack sufficient income), Social Security helps them through the minimum supplement, while those who have contributed the most suffer this punishment “for life,” adds Luis Ortiga.
On the other hand, they point out that Social Security contemplates certain groups with especially painful or dangerous professions, as well as the Passive Classes, who can access early retirement without suffering penalties on their pension. In this sense, they ask themselves: “Is it fair to penalize and punish those who have contributed the most to the system?”
For this retiree, as explained to NewsWork the minister’s decision has been “humiliating and embarrassing” for something they consider “fair and dignified.” In fact, as they explain to this medium, the association met with the Secretary of State for Social Security, Borja Suárez, who told him that eliminating these coefficients would mean “a lot of money” and would be “very costly” for the system, and this could be the reason for the minister’s rejection.
The decriminalization of early retirement would further strain the system
The latest reforms carried out by the Government (such as Law 21/2021 or Royal Decree 3/2023) sought to make the public system more sustainable, for which it was necessary to raise the average retirement age. To achieve this, early retirements were further discouraged and delayed retirements were encouraged.
Social Security penalizes early retirement, since by enjoying the pension earlier it is understood that it will be collected for more years, even more so if we take into account that life expectancy is increasing. With all this, it is worth asking if it is fair to continue penalizing those who have contributed the most to the system, but without forgetting that many of these retirees were fired at the age of 61 and without the possibility of finding a new job, so they had to choose to be unemployed until they found a new opportunity or retire early and suffer a reduction in the penalty.