Contributory pension guarantee and greater outbound flexibility to protect today's young workers in the future. This is what is being discussed in the debate on the so-called "phase two" of the pension reform. The confrontation between the Minister of Labor Giuliano Poletti and the general secretaries of CGIL, CISL and UIL began with the appointment of last February 22nd and will come alive at the next meeting, on March 23rd. No one believes in the possibility of concluding the negotiations in the last part of this legislature, but in the coming months the foundations could still be laid for a future agreement.
It all starts fromlatest agreement between the government and the trade unions on the subject of social security, the one signed last September 28 on the changes introduced with the 2017 budget law (from the Bee to the social Bee, from the fourteenth to the free accumulation of contributions, passing through early workers e strenuous work).
In that document, in the paragraph "PHASE II", the executive and the social partners "undertake to continue the discussion for the definition of further reform measures of the contribution calculation system, to make it more fair and flexible, to deal with the theme of the adequacy of pensions for young workers with low and discontinuous incomes and to encourage the development of savings in supplementary pensions, maintaining the financial sustainability and the correct relationship between generations inherent in the contributory method".
At an operational level, the agreement contains eight possible contributions reform interventions, the pension calculation system (less favorable than the salary) introduced by the Fornero reform for those who started working after 1995.
In particular, the text speaks of the possibility of «evaluating the introduction of a guarantee contributory pension linked to the years of contributions and the leaving age, in order to guarantee the adequacy of medium-low pensions", i.e. those of many young people today, often precarious if not unemployed or tied to the voucher system, with low contributions and discontinuous.
On this issue, a bill for signature was filed in the Chamber for three years Marialuisa Gnecchi e Cesare Damiano (Pd) to introduce a "basic pension financed by general taxation, worth 442 euros (which can be revalued according to the provisions in force on the current social allowance), additional to that accrued by the worker, whether employee, self-employed or semi-subordinated. This pension is recognized to male and female workers upon reaching the age of sixty-five, provided they have paid at least 15 years of effective contributions. Starting from the entry into force of the law, the amount of the pension is recognized pro rata at the rate of one fifteenth per year to arrive at full capacity after fifteen years». The measure "responds to the need to provide concrete support for future pensions that will be paid only with the contributory system and for which integration into the minimum wage is no longer envisaged".
In 2009 also the former deputy Pdl Giuliano Cazzola he had presented to Parliament a proposal for the reform of the social security system which envisaged, among other things, a delegation to the government for the introduction of a basic pension. The treatment would be "financed by general taxation - reads the text - on a universal basis and intended to guarantee, albeit through the presence and maturation of certain requisites, to all elderly citizens minimum benefits adequate to their life needs". The basic pension would be added to that calculated with the contributory method "in order to ensure, in particular for individuals with lower income and contributory capacity, overall and gross compulsory pension payments of no less than 60 percent of the reference salary".
But the guarantee (or basic) pension is not the only topic under discussion. Going back to the September agreement, the government and the unions are also proposing to «favor greater outbound flexibility within the contributory system, also with a revision of the requirement of the minimum level of amount for access to early retirement".
Again according to the rules introduced by the Fornero reform, those who entered the world of work after 1995 will be able to retire three years earlier than the age set for retirement benefits (therefore at 63 years and 7 months) only if will have accrued at least 20 years of contributions and, above all, a pension equal to at least 2,8 times the social allowance. About 1.250 euros a month: a rather substantial figure by the standards of future pensions.
If nothing changes, therefore, in a few years, early retirement will only be granted to middle-upper classes, i.e. workers who have enjoyed significant wages during their career. But if, at the end of the government-union negotiation, it were decided to lower the threshold to 1,5 times the social allowance (672 euros per month), many more workers could enjoy greater flexibility in leaving.
In the context of the pension reform for young people, the possibility of introducing new criteria for the adjustment of pensions to life expectancy, «recognising – as Poletti said – that not all workers and jobs are the same».
Finally, there could also be "interventions on supplementary pensions - the text of the September agreement continues - aimed at relaunching membership, encouraging investments by pension funds in the real economy and equalizing the taxation of supplementary pension benefits for employees public at the level of private individuals.
