The Government is finalizing a Royal Decree-Law to unblock the partial retirement of public employees, one of the main union demands that had kept the social dialogue table paralyzed for almost two months. This confirms the ‘legal change’ that the Government promised to remove partial retirement from the public sector from the blockade. The implementation of this measure has allowed the reactivation of negotiations between the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration and social agents.
The meeting held this Monday served to address two key issues pending from previous agreements: the regulation of partial retirement of public administration staff and the maintenance of the transitional period to calculate the amount of voluntary early retirement pensions.
An agreement to guarantee partial retirement
The principle of agreement reached between unions and the Government establishes that access to partial retirement for staff must be accompanied by the incorporation of a relief worker with a permanent full-time contract. This may come from a selective process that has already been completed or maintain a relationship as an interim until the position is definitively filled through a public job offer.
In addition, CCOO has asked the Executive to approve the package of measures “without further delay” through a Royal Decree-Law that has sufficient parliamentary support. The union proposes that the text include both pending legal reforms and other measures with broad consensus at the social dialogue table.
The widow’s pension could be extended to unmarried couples
Along with partial retirement, social dialogue addresses changes in the pension system. Among them, the study to expand access to the widow’s pension for de facto couples stands out. The proposal seeks to provide coverage to those who cannot formally prove the constitution of the couple, but can demonstrate stable cohabitation or the existence of children in common.
Likewise, the unions have proposed other measures, such as the regulation of coefficients reducing the retirement age in the airline sector or the reform of the Basic Statute of Public Employees to definitively guarantee access to partial retirement also for civil servants and statutory personnel.
New proposal to improve medical leave
In parallel to these reforms, the Government has announced that it will submit a new proposal to improve the management of Temporary Disability (IT). According to the executive secretary of UGT, Cristina Estévez, the objective is to streamline the medical leave processes, among other measures through the reorganization of the INSS Medical Inspection.
However, unions place reforms related to pensions and retirement in the foreground, considering that they have a greater structural impact on the social protection system.
The reactivation of the social dialogue table thus opens a new phase of negotiation in which the Executive seeks to close pending agreements and provide a regulatory solution to measures that affect both retirement and the economic protection of workers.