The new Minister of Inclusion and Social Security, Elma Saiz, opens today her contacts with the highest representatives of employers and unions with a meeting that should result in an extension of relief contracts, much demanded by the manufacturing industry in general and in particular for the automotive sector. This type of contract, which combines the partial retirement of workers with the entry of new contributors and which, therefore, facilitates the generational transition, expires at the end of the year and awaits the decision of the Spanish Executive.
The presidents of the CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, and of Cepyme, Gerardo Cuerva, and also the general secretaries of the UGT and CC.OO., Pepe Álvarez and Unai Sordo, are attending this afternoon's meeting.
The reform of the partial retirement figure and the relief contract were left out of the two comprehensive 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 gain 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 with the emergency. Both employers and unions are demanding an extension, but the ministry has not yet made an official statement. This week, in the Senate, Elma Saiz said that "a satisfactory answer will be found for all social partners" and that she continues to work to have a new regulatory framework for the partial retirement pension.
On Thursday, the Secretary of State for Social Security, Borja Suárez, already held a preparatory meeting with unions and social agents, in which he indicated the possibility of an extension, but without further details. The UGT is calling for the current regulation to be extended, and it is also being considered to extend its application to sectors such as floor waitresses, the so-called kellys. "That it be extended indefinitely to give time to negotiate the new regulation", asks Fernando Luján, deputy secretary of trade union policy of the UGT. The employers also warn of complications if there is no extension, because without an extension, companies cannot use this formula and "the workforce will not be rejuvenated or training will increase".
Also from Anfac, the car manufacturers, influence the need for the extension. "It's a very useful tool" to renew templates in the automotive industry and do it without conflict, pointed out the director general 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 relief contract must continue to be an adequate instrument for maintaining the ' employment and the rejuvenation of the workforce", and urge 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 Spanish Government has in its program. In the PSOE-Sumar coalition agreement, it is specified that a new regulation of partial retirement and relief contracts will be carried out "that guarantees the quality of the employment of the relief workers and that takes into account "the higher burden in the development of some activities, in many cases strongly feminized, from a certain age, especially in the manufacturing industry".
One of the disadvantages of the relief contract is that it entails an additional cost for the State, since partial retirements represent a reduction in the workforce early, and the payment of the partial pension. In any case, the unions emphasize the advantages of combining partial retirement with generational relief. "It is necessary to quantify it economically and socially, and take into account that a worker is removed from unemployment", says Fernando Luján, from the UGT.
