– We expect the government to start work to close the gaps in the pension system. When we talk about sustainable pensions, this is also about the individual and not just the state, said the union’s leader Mette Nord to news before the LO congress started. On Friday, the LO Congress unanimously decided to support a number of changes in the pension system. The organization’s main requirement is still that everyone should receive at least two thirds of their salary in total pension at age 67. But in addition, LO proposes measures that will make it easier for the so-called strugglers in working life to leave early. Improvements are also required for the disabled and for minimum pensioners, but the very controversial principle of life expectancy adjustments in the pension reform remains unchanged. More expensive In concrete terms, LO is in favor of raising the minimum rates in the occupational pension schemes in the private sector. The payment for this, it is the employers who have to take. – This hardly arouses enthusiasm among our opponents, said the committee’s leader Are Tomasgard when he presented the editorial committee’s recommendation, which was later unanimously adopted. And he is right. NHO’s working life director Nina Melsom says the proposal from LO will mean a significant cost increase for companies: – We will of course have a pension we can live on. It ensures a dignified old age. When it comes to costs, we have a responsibility to ensure that everyone actually has a job we can retire from, says Melsom. NHO’s Nina Melsom is critical of the proposal from LO and believes it could endanger jobs. Photo: Terje Bendiksby / NTB In the first instance, the rates will be raised from 2 to 4 percent. This means that somewhere between 500,000 and 1 million employees in the private sector can look forward to a higher pension. 1.5 million people have an occupational pension today, while around 560,000 have a minimum level of 2 per cent. In addition, there are approx. 360,000 who have a pension between 2 percent and 5 percent. LO believes that the current level with minimum rates of 2 per cent in the occupational pension schemes in the private sector simply does not provide a good enough pension, even after 40 years of service. The costs of this measure will thus end up with the employers. The same believes that LO should take place for changes in the occupational pension for the disabled. The proposed decision states: – LO believes that disability pension should be introduced in compulsory occupational pension, so that everyone receives a supplement to the public disability benefit. LO also demands improvements for people who are partially disabled and then have an increased degree of disability towards the end of working life. This has previously been described as the «disability trap». Other requirements include shielding the disabled’s old-age pension from life expectancy adjustment and that the earnings take place until the age of 67. LO will also remove the ceiling on total disability benefits and increase child benefits for the disabled. Struggles In the run-up to the congress, there has been a lot of attention about the so-called “toilers”, namely employees who after a long working life in a physically or mentally strenuous profession can not work after the age of 62. These are employees who will then not be able to mitigate the effect of the life expectancy adjustments, as others can do, who are able to work until they are closer to 70 years old. In order to solve the “struggle”, LO is opening up to introduce a fixed supplement in the National Insurance Scheme based on the number of years the individual has worked together. In such a model, a hardship supplement can be paid regardless of what one has worked as. The proposal is one of several that LO allows for in the pension policy decision, which will be made later today. But in the first instance, LO will have a study of how the pension of the weary can be strengthened. The various proposals LO takes up all have in common that they should mitigate the effect of the life expectancy adjustment for groups with low pensions and tiring occupations.
ttn-69
How LO will change pensions – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
