An agreement is glimpsed at the pension table. The Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations met again this Monday with the social partners to address the new proposal for the second part of the pension reform. The portfolio has sent a new document in which it incorporated some of the demands raised in the meeting last Friday. The unions have been “partially satisfied” after verifying that several of their requirements have been included. Instead, the employers take a step to the side and position themselves outside the agreement, despite the fact that they have maintained that they will continue to make contributions until the final text is defined.
José Luis Escrivá’s team has promised to send a new paper to the social partners early this Tuesday, after which the UGT and CCOO expect the agreement to be staged. “It is true that he has not given a satisfactory answer to all the questions that we have raised,” acknowledged Carlos Bravo, Confederal Secretary for Social Protection and Public Policies of the Workers’ Commissions, at the end of the meeting. However, union representatives have welcomed the completion of the negotiation on income. The Ministry has agreed to extend the Intergenerational Equity Mechanism (MEI) to all areas of the Social Security system and has eliminated a point that included the possibility of limiting the scope of the new solidarity quota through the Budget Law.
However, they understand that it is necessary to touch on another list of additional questions to give their definitive support to the text. the latest proposal does not delimit the extension of the additional solidarity quota and they hope that this point will be reflected in the document that the portfolio will send them this Tuesday. Although, the main point of contention is given by the improvement of minimum pensions and the supplement to alleviate the gender gap. The representatives of the workers understand that part of the minimum pensions have been left out of the norm, for this reason they ask that a floor be established that guarantees the purchasing power of these benefits.
The general deputy secretary of Union Policy of UGT, Fernando Luján, has specified that his desire is to compare it with the relative poverty indicator. For contributory pensions, at this point in the negotiationthe reference is established at 60% of the average income of a family of two members, while for non-contributors it is 75% of a person’s median household income, which in both cases is far from the poverty line. Regarding the gender gap, the trade union associations want the Government to be more ambitious in the complement, so that it goes beyond the 2024-2025 biennium. The unions qualify that “progress has been made” on both issues, but they assure that the pact “is very close.” They will submit the reform for internal debate next Wednesday, after which they are expected to make a joint statement.
The Ministry led by Escrivá has not made any statements after the meeting, however, sources from the portfolio point out that “the interlocutors have made important contributions, which are going to be studied”In addition, they also recognize that “significant progress has been made” and they are working intensively to close the agreement. Escrivá has requested to appear at the Toledo Pact Commission next Wednesday, where he wants to present the final text, so everything indicates that the paper sent to the social agents this Tuesday will have ironed out the small details that prevent the bilateral signature . Once it has the support of the unions, the Ministry will be able to ‘step on the accelerator’ with the parliamentary process via royal decree law, thanks to the agreement sealed with United We Can.
The agreement will be without the CEOE
The director of Labor Relations of CEOE, Rosa Santos, has regretted the way in which the negotiation has taken place, which at all times has focused on income and has prevented them from introducing their proposals. The employer’s representative has indicated that the result of the four meetings is a “regressive proposal” that will harm the labor market. For employers, the text means that they will have to work more years and contribute more so that “in the best of cases” the same pension is obtained. In addition, they understand that the gaps in work lives that exceed two years have not been adequately covered, nor is there a timely response to partial contracts led by women.
Santos has highlighted the numerous contributions that the employers have made to the table despite disagreeing on the basic approach and has questioned that the solution agreed with Brussels involves increasing the cost of wages, which It has a direct impact on the labor costs of companies. In addition, the employers’ representative recalled that this disagreement “does not help” the negotiation of the Agreement for Employment and Collective Bargaining (AENC). Santos, has assured that the employers “would like” to reach an agreement at this table but that his main concern is that collective bargaining works, something that they say “has been shown” to happen. For the moment, the meeting scheduled for this Monday has been postponed to Wednesday the 22nd, which suggests that the pension agreement will condition that conversation.
