At the insistence of the trade unions, a great injustice has been eliminated against employees working in harmful conditions

More than a year ago, Law no.290 / 2016 on amending and completing the Law no.156 / 1998 on the public pension system, which led to the reform of the public pension system in our country, was approved.

In the opinion of Sergiu Sainciuc, vice-president of the CNSM, besides many norms beneficial to the citizens, a great injustice has also been made, as from 1 January 2017 the right to early retirement was abrogated for those who worked in extremely harmful conditions, such as work in mines, glass manufacturing, nuclear medicine, and other areas of activity that include sources of danger to human health.

The main reason for this change of legislation, cited by the authors, was the too large  list of activities that allowed the right for the early retirement to employees who worked in very harmful, very bad conditions, approved by the Government in 1992. While in reality, CNSM vice-president added, the number of people who retired under this list was insignificant.

Being aware of an injustice in relation to this category of workers, the National Trade Union Confederation of Moldova repeatedly notified the Parliament, the Government, the ministry, asking for the right to early retirement for employees working in bad conditions.

Trade union requirements were upheld so that on December 22, 2017 the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova adopted the Law no. 317, which amended and supplemented the Law on the Public Pension System. Thus, this injustice has been eliminated against employees working under harsh, harmful working conditions. That is, the right to early retirement for the relevant category of workers was restored, even if the CNSM did not agree with the authors’ proposed scale to reduce the standard retirement age depending on the length of contribution paid under special conditions of employment, in fact, somewhat diminishes the legal safeguards that were in place by 1 January 2017.

As a result, Sergiu Sainciuc explains, with the publication of this law in the “Official Gazette”, starting with January 5, 2018, for people who have a very hard working life of at least 10 years, the standard retirement age established will be reduced. Thus, according to the Law voted at the end of December last year, a split was made according to the special contribution period and the reduction of the retirement age. That is, the contribution period under special conditions of employment must be at least 10 years and the retirement age will be reduced by 5 years. If an employee who works in adverse working conditions has earned a contribution period of 20 years or more, then he will retire 10 years earlier. In other words, concludes the CNSM vice-president, the right to early retirement will depend directly on the special contribution period.

Now, Sergiu Sainciuc points out, the Government should approve the list of special jobs, under which a retirement pension is granted on advantageous terms, as well as the way of applying it. In this context, he pointed out that branch unions actively collaborated with the line ministry to draft the act. It is only necessary for this project to be promoted as soon as possible by the Government, because the Law adopted by the Parliament, restoring the right to retirement on advantageous terms for those who work under special conditions, to be implemented as soon as possible.

Age of retirement on advantageous terms for people who have worked under special working conditions

Picture source: http://www.obiectiv.info

Department of mass media and international relations of CNSM