Berlin – IG Metall has called on policymakers to change course on pension policy. “In this federal election year, the parties must finally show their true colors: Do they stand for a retirement security plan with adequate pensions, or will they continue to stand by and watch as pension levels plummet?” said Hans-Jürgen Urban, IG Metall’s executive board member responsible for social policy, at the union’s pension conference on Friday in Berlin. IG Metall had already published its plan in July 2016, which is based on the demand for stabilizing and, in the medium term, raising pension levels. “Our proposals for a change in pension policy strategy have been on the table for months—now it’s up to those who want to be elected this fall,” said Urban.
The union leader spoke out against “self-proclaimed defenders of the youth.” These individuals advocate for cuts to pension benefits, citing future contribution burdens, but in reality, they are acting against the interests of younger people. “It is precisely the young people who are paying the price for cuts to statutory pension benefits and who are expected to save their way to bridge ever-widening pension gaps in uncertain capital markets,” said Urban.
According to a representative survey by Infratest/Kantar Public commissioned by IG Metall, three-quarters of the working population (74 percent) do not expect to be able to continue in their current jobs into old age—among blue-collar workers, the figure is as high as 93 percent. “Younger people are expected to keep working well into old age—until 70, 73, or even longer. This ignores the reality on the ground in workplaces. Anyone who continues to raise the standard retirement age is effectively cutting pensions,” Urban criticized at the conference, which was attended by around 200 works council members, youth representatives, union representatives, and politicians. At the conclusion, representatives from youth and student organizations, as well as the older generation, discussed how to achieve a pension policy that is once again geared toward meeting people’s needs. In doing so, they sent another signal of intergenerational solidarity.
Earlier that morning, around 100 young and older union members had staged a protest in front of the Berlin headquarters of the employer lobby “Initiative for a New Social Market Economy (INSM)” to make it clear that they will not allow themselves to be divided on issues of social security. Ralf Kutzner, a member of the IG Metall executive board responsible for campaigns, said there: “Employers are spending millions on the INSM’s diversionary campaigns to prevent a fair pension system. With its demand for further pension cuts instead of a parity-based retirement system, the INSM is the gravedigger of our welfare state.”
