Working mothers to lose out most
Retirement ages are going up by between two and five years according to the provisions of the new social security law, which Parliament approved by article early yesterday morning. As shown by data processed by the union of social security fund employees, the increases in retirement ages affect 18 major groups of insured in all funds except that of farmers (OGA). The smallest increase is two years but for many categories, particularly women, it reaches five years, and in some cases, such as mothers of three children and mothers of underage children employed in public companies and banks, the increase in the retirement age can be as high as 10 years. The law strengthens the disincentives for early retirement. For those retiring five years earlier than the maximum specified for a full pension, 35 or 37 years, the overall reduction in the main and supplementary pension ranges between 10 and 40 percent. This is calculated by increasing the «penalty» from 4.5 percent to 6 percent for each year and by limiting the size of the supplementary pension to 20 percent of the total. Women who began working in a number of public organizations and banks, such as OTE Telecoms, the Public Power Corporation and National Bank, between January 1, 1983 and December 31, 1992, used to be able to retire before 50 provided they had completed 25 years at work and had underage children, but they would start receiving pension payments at 50. Now, the minimum age required to establish the right to a pension becomes 50, which means that there will be many more mothers who will not have underage children at that age, and will need to work until 58 at least to reach 37 years of employment, or until the of age 60.
