The new Minister of Inclusion and Social Security, Elma Saiz, begins today her contacts with the highest representatives of employers and unions with a meeting that should result in an extension of relief contracts, highly demanded by the manufacturing industry in general and in particular. by the automobile sector. These types of contracts, which combine the partial retirement of workers with the entry of new contributors, and which, therefore, facilitate generational change, expire at the end of the year and are awaiting the Executive's decision.
This afternoon's meeting is attended by the presidents of the CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, and of the Cepyme, Gerardo Cuerva, as well as the general secretaries of UGT, Pepe Álvarez, and of CC.OO., Unai Sordo.
The reform of the partial retirement figure and the relief contract was left out of the two exhaustive pension reforms carried out in recent years, and it was time to undertake it this year. In December 2022, the current regulations were extended to save time and June 30 was set as the date to complete it. However, the call for general elections interrupted the process and now we are back to emergencies. Both employers and unions demand the extension, but the ministry has not yet made an official statement. This week, in the Senate, Elma Saiz said that “a satisfactory answer for all social partners” will be found and that she continues working to have a new regulatory framework for the partial retirement pension.
Last Thursday, the Secretary of State for Social Security, Borja Suárez, already held a preparatory meeting with unions and social agents, in which he pointed out the possibility of the extension, but without further details. The UGT demands that the current regulation be extended and also plans to expand its application to sectors such as chambermaids, the so-called kellys. “That it be extended indefinitely to give time to negotiate the new regulation,” asks Fernando Luján, deputy secretary of union policy at UGT. The employers' association also warns of complications if there is no extension, because without an extension, companies will not be able to use this formula and "the workforce will not be rejuvenated nor will training increase."
Also from Anfac, the automobile manufacturers, they emphasize the need for the extension. “It is a very useful tool” to renew staff in the automobile industry and do so without conflict, said the general director of Anfac, José López-Tafall.
The truth is that unions and employers already recognized in the Agreement for Employment and Collective Bargaining signed in May that “partial retirement and the replacement contract must continue to be an appropriate instrument for maintaining employment and rejuvenating the workforce.” , urging collective agreements to promote gradual and flexible retirement formulas to facilitate the transition from active life to retirement.
And it is also something that the Government has in its program. The PSOE-Sumar coalition agreement specifies that a new regulation of partial retirement and the replacement contract will be carried out “that guarantees the quality of employment of the relievers and that takes into account “the greater hardship of the development of certain activities, in many cases strongly feminized, from a certain age, especially in the manufacturing industry.”
One of the drawbacks of the replacement contract is that it represents an additional cost for the State, given that partial retirements represent a reduction in the workforce ahead of time, and the payment of a partial pension. In any case, the unions highlight the advantages of combining partial retirement with generational change. “We must quantify it economically and socially, and take into account that a worker is removed from unemployment,” says Fernando Luján, from UGT.
