– I hope the committee sees the problems with the current pension system. It punishes all those who have to retire early, with big cuts in pensions, says Rødt leader Bjørnar Moxnes to news. Red leader Bjørnar Moxnes will give 25,000 kroner in addition to wearers who leave early. Photo: Mats Rønning / news Tomorrow at ten o’clock comes the report from the pension committee that the Solberg government once set up. And then the start of a new political debate about what LO has called «the holes in the pension system». The background for what could be a real political feud is the pension reform from 2011 and the controversial principle of life expectancy adjustments. This means that the old-age pension is adjusted according to life expectancy for each cohort. To compensate for this loss of pension money, each individual employee must now stay in work longer. And the longer you work after the age of 62, the bigger your pension will be. But what about disabled people who do not have the health to work? And what about workers in heavy and tiring occupations, who can not work until they are closer to 70? It is this “tangle of struggles” that neither the parties in working life nor the politicians in the Storting have so far managed to solve. But now Rødt is ready with its solution proposal. New “wear and tear supplement” The party proposes a separate equalization pension for wear and tear – an annual supplement of NOK 25,000 to everyone who retires at the age of 62. The prerequisite is that you have been working for more than 38 years. – This is a concretization of something also LO has asked for, namely a solution for those struggling in working life. If you have worked for 40 years, but started early, you get a much lower pension than if you start later, earn the same and work the same amount, says Moxnes. The reason for this is, among other things, that the last years before you retire are more important for earning than the first years you worked. By setting a minimum age of 38 for earning, Rødt ensures, according to its own calculations, that two thirds of Norwegian employees are covered. – And the sum of 25,000 kroner is a reasonable level. It will still pay to work rather than resign, but you will not receive the same penalty in pension cuts as today, says Moxnes. – Rødt has opposed the pension reform all the time and is also opposed to the principle of life expectancy adjustment. Do you acknowledge that this battle is now lost? – By no means, but on the way there we have to fight for all possible improvements, he says. The party itself has estimated the costs of the proposal at NOK 75 million in the first year the scheme is phased in, and at NOK 1.25 billion when the scheme is fully phased in. But parties acknowledge that the calculation is uncertain, not least because it is difficult to estimate how many would have used the scheme. Facts about the pension committee The committee that today submits its final report was appointed by the Solberg government and has been chaired by Schibsted director and former NHO top Kristin Skogen Lund. The main task is to assess whether the pension reform from 2011 has reached its goals, including savings for the state, by stimulating more people to stay in work longer. The committee shall also assess the pension system’s ‘social sustainability’. And this is where the issues related to the disabled and workers who have worked for a long time in heavy and tiring occupations come in. Had to leave news has described the problems associated with disabled and struggling in several articles. In connection with the LO congress at the turn of the month, Lena Jansen Hoel from Moss presented her story. After 25 years as a nurse with many heavy lifts, his back went on strike. Years of sick leave and work clearance money followed, before she finally became disabled. – With the income I get, I just have to be happy that I get paid bills. Among other things, I have to put aside plans for travel, which I had planned to do when I retired, she says. Lena Jansen Hoel in Moss has calculated that she loses more than 90,000 kroner a year on the pension reform. Photo: Lokman Ghorbani / news When she turns 67, she will receive just over NOK 240,000 in pension. But in the old system, with pension accrual to 67 years and full protection against the principle of life expectancy adjustment, she would have received more than 330,000 kroner in pension. According to her own calculations, this is how she “loses” more than NOK 90,000 on the pension reform, which was introduced under the red-greens in 2011. She has fallen into what is often called the “disability trap”. – We do not receive full pension earnings from the age of 62 until we are 67 years old. Ordinary employees must now eventually work longer than the age of 67 to receive a full pension. We do not have the opportunity to do that either, she explains. Want protection The Labor Party’s Tuva Moflag agrees that the pension reform for which the party itself was a champion has weaknesses that should be rectified. Not least when it comes to the disabled, who do not have the health to stay in work to compensate for the life expectancy adjustments. – Therefore, it is important that we put in place a form of protection for the disabled, so that they do not lose too much money. When it comes to the weary, this is something we have to look into, says Moflag. The Labor Party’s Tuva Moflag says the disabled must be shielded from the effect of life expectancy adjustments in the pension reform. Photo: Rolf Petter Olaisen / news She says the question of how the workers should be compensated will be central to the political debate that will follow after the presentation of the report from the pension committee. – What do you think about the proposal from Rødt? – I see that Rødt, like many others, mentions that the strugglers are a group that we must look extra carefully at. At the same time, Rødt wants to scrap the entire pension reform and thus sits on the sidelines of the big discussion we have now. But if Rødt wants to sit down at the table, then we are happy to discuss retirement with them as well, she says. Want a report The LO Congress went in earlier this month to investigate how the pension system can be made better for the weary. Two concrete possibilities were aired. Whether to introduce a fixed supplement in the National Insurance Scheme based on the number of years of employment, regardless of income. Or to create a new scheme that builds on the principles of the so-called struggle scheme, which in its time was established in negotiations between the parties. In addition, LO points out that the solution can be found by using other mechanisms in the National Insurance Scheme to take care of those with long careers, with a need to retire early. – Rødt’s proposal contains elements of what LO has proposed, says special adviser Ragnar Bøe Elgsaas in LO to news. He is still unsure whether Rødt’s concretisation hits well enough. Both in terms of the limit of 38 years, the support amount of 25,000 kroner and the minimum requirement for annual earnings, there is reason to investigate further, he believes. In Rødt’s proposal, it is set as a requirement that you must have earned more than 2G (just over 200,000 kroner) to be entitled to the supplementary pension. – It is not a given that this sum is the best starting point, says Elgsaas in LO.
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Requires supplementary pension for the weary – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
