2023-04-28 06:45:00
He Uruguayan Senate signed into law this thursday the pension reform that raises to 65 yearsin a stepwise fashion, the retirement agepromoted by the president Luis Lacalle Pou.
After six hours of debate, the project was approved, although the Broad Front (FA), which did not accompany this reformquestioned the parties of the government coalition for not previously summoning the Special Commission that studied the changes that the ruling party had proposed.
For the FA it is a reform that puts more requirements on retirement, which does not count other contributions than those of the workers themselves, and which lowers the amounts allocated to social security. On the other hand, for the legislators of the governing coalition, with the approval of the reform guarantees the financial viability of the system.
The approval was given in the midst of rejection by the opposition and the most important union: the Inter-Union Plenary of Workers-National Workers Convention (PIT-CNT), which included street marches and strikes.
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The current average age for retirement was 60 yearsand from now on it was fixed at 61 for those born in 1973, and then increased gradually until reaching 65 years for those born in 1977.
After the law was approved, Lacalle Pou gave a message to the population in which he said that “the reform is fair and supportive”, and remarked that “it was urgent” to apply it.
“At present the life expectancy is highertherefore it is also extends people’s working lives. It is not enough to sustain the system with social security contributions. In addition, Uruguay has a very low birth rate,” the president explained.
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In extraordinary session, With 17 votes in favor out of 28, the Upper House finished the work that it had begun in December, when it gave its first approval.
The text then went to Deputies, where it underwent modifications -all agreed within the ruling coalition-, for which reason it returned to the Senate, which might no longer change the text, and only had to approve or reject what came from the lower house.
Now the text goes to the Executive Power for its promulgation, which is estimated to happen shortly.
“Sometimes it is hard to imagine the future. But the numbers indicate that more and more Uruguayan taxes are needed to pay for the retirement system. It is not enough with the contributions directly destined to social security”, warned Lacalle Pou.
The rejection of the Broad Front
“Another unfulfilled promise of the government that changes the rules of the game for workers. The pension reform is a new lack of truth that harms the majority of Uruguayans,” the Broad Front tweeted.
“It directly invites us to work more years to retire and earn less,” as summarized in March by the head of the Single Telecommunications Union (Sutel), Gabriel Molina, a member of the PIT-CNT leadership.
In order to achieve the blocked vote of all the ruling party, the Executive had to accept changes proposed by the Cabildo Abierto and the Colorado Party, two of the five forces of the government coalition.
Some modifications were to limit investments abroad by fund managers, prohibit future governments from changing the retirement age without the approval of Congress, and reduce the number of years of residence in the country required of migrants to be able to access a pension.
ED
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