Press Release No. 01/2014 IG Metall: People’s lifetime achievements must be recognized

Frankfurt am Main – IG Metall has generally welcomed the pension plan presented by Federal Minister of Labor Andrea Nahles. “The proposals to reform pension law are a step in the right direction. It sends the right signal when people’s lifetime achievements are better recognized,” said Detlef Wetzel, President of IG Metall, on Friday in Frankfurt. In this context, Wetzel highlighted the plans for a full pension at age 63 for long-term insured individuals. From IG Metall’s perspective, it would be a positive development if employees who have worked hard and contributed significantly throughout their lives were no longer penalized by pension reductions in the future, Wetzel said.

Improving pension entitlements for parents and those with reduced earning capacity is also a step in the right direction. Wetzel voiced criticism regarding the issue of financing: “While early retirement without reductions after 45 years of insurance contributions is rightly financed by the pension fund—because these are people who have worked long and hard and financed the pension system with their contributions—the mothers’ pension must be financed from tax revenues earlier than planned,” said Wetzel.

IG Metall rejected the criticism from employers and individual lobbyists: “Retirement at 63 is not about excessive ‘pension handouts’ or unduly favoring certain groups, but about greater fairness in pension law for those who, through their decades of contributions, form the backbone of the system,” added Hans-Jürgen Urban, IG Metall’s executive board member responsible for social policy. Anyone who wants to improve retirement security for everyone must work together with IG Metall to stabilize pension levels. “It is not the mothers’ pension or retirement at 63 that disadvantages young people, but the misguided pension policies of the last ten years,” said Urban. The reduction in pension levels has led to the younger generation being disadvantaged. “It’s a scandal to pit insured people against one another. It’s hypocritical to raise the issue of fairness on the one hand while seeking to lower pension levels on the other,” said Urban.