Uruguay approves reform that raises retirement age to 65

2023-04-28 06:00:07

Change promoted by President Luis Lacalle Pou rose from 60 to 65 years and was approved by 17 votes out of 28

Pablo PORCIUNCULA / AFPReform had already been voted by the Senate in December and needed approval from the House

With the votes of the governing party, the Senate of Uruguay approved this Thursday, 28, the law to reform the social security system promoted by the government of President Luis Lacalle Pou which, among other measures, raises the retirement age from 60 to 65. After the Chamber of Deputies approved changes to the original text and with 17 votes in favor out of 28, the senators of the parties that make up the governing coalition ratified the changes to the law, which will be sent to the Executive Branch for promulgation. The project, which has already become law, had been approved by the Senate in December of last year and was awaiting the vote of the deputies, where the objections of the right-wing Cabildo Abierto (CA) and the Colorado Party (PC), of center-right, forced the government of Lacalle Pou to negotiate. Among other measures, PC and CA asked for the review of pensions for widowers and disability and the reduction from 25 to 20 years of the measure of “best years” to calculate the basic retirement salary. Created with the support of a Commission of Social Security Experts, before being sent to Parliament in October 2022, the reform was described as “necessary” and “solidarity” by Lacalle Pou, who highlighted its approval as one of the main priorities. of his mandate. However, it was not supported by either the Frente Ampla left-wing coalition, which governed between 2005 and 2020, or by the unions.

Thousands of workers in areas such as health, transport and education mobilized on Tuesday in Uruguay, in the context of the general strike called by the PIT-CNT trade union federation, to express repudiation of the government’s pension reform project, which they consider “socially ineffective”. ” and “against the people”. On the day the bill was voted on in the Chamber of Deputies, critics gathered in front of the Legislative Palace to protest. There, the PIT-CNT spokesman, Sergio Sommaruga, denounced the project of a government that, according to him, does not listen to the workers and only takes into account the benefit of “a privileged minority”. “This reform is not for the people, but against the people. It is neither fair nor democratic, much less supportive, and it is also socially ineffective”, he underlined, stating that this will mean that the majority will have to “work until they are 65” in order to be able to retire. Another of the concerns of social groups is that the reform accentuates “the problem of youth unemployment” by delaying the replacement of workers, as its president, Marcelo Abdala, told the newspaper “El País”.

*With information from EFE