Not on the worker’s back!

Zdravko Saveski

They thought about raising the retirement age! Again, they want the employee to pay for the fraudulent economic policies of the government authorities! That’s the easiest way for them. Then  they will be able to continue the wasteful spending of public money and will not be confronted with the bosses. So let the employee pay. The employee is used to it.

Disinformation from the IMF

The head of the IMF mission in Macedonia, Jesmin Rahman, at an international conference in Skopje organized by the National Bank, said the IMF recommends to increase the retirement age as it is in the EU because we had a similar length of service life.
Two questions are raised about this statement. First, did this lady think that in Macedonia everyone is illiterate, who do not know how to check the Internet whether the life expectancy in Macedonia is similar to that in the EU? Second, in the absence of arguments to push for the rise of the age limit, they resorted to spreading disinformation?
According to Eurostat, the average life expectancy in the EU is 80.6 years, and in Macedonia it is five years less – 75.5 years. What kind of resemblance does this respective lady speak of? Is she aware that when it comes to the average length of life, a difference that is more than a year cannot be considered similar? And what about the quality of life? Do the 65-year-old Macedonian and European citizens have the same working capacity? Why did not the respective lady mention the case of Slovakia, where in a lifetime longer than ours (76.7 years), you can retire earlier than in Macedonia (at age 62 for both men and women)?
But no responsibility from the IMF over the misinformation that was spread by their boss. They neither came up with a statement to apologize for the misinformation they had given, nor withdrew their boss. And from our government, to ask for responsibility from the IMF that their boss in Macedonia has allowed to spread misinformation that can affect the lives of hundreds of thousands of citizens? For God’s sake! They would rather treat the recommendation of the IMF as an excuse to try to increase the retirement age. Against the will of the citizens! Therefore, we will emphasize that this recommendation does not mean an order. Hence, the government does not have to act upon the recommendation of the IMF, especially since it is based on misinformation.

What about the unemployment and labor productivity?

The retirement age cannot be increased just like that, and not have any consequences to the economy. If people who already deserve to be retired, and be legally forced to continue to work, then their positions could not be filled by others. Macedonia has a huge unemployment issue. Especially among young people. So young people will have less chances to get employed and what will they do? They will leave the state. This government has criticized the previous one that forced young people to emigrate from the state. And what do they do to keep them? Is this how they create living conditions in Macedonia?
The second important thing is the productivity of labor. There is always criticism that the productivity of labor in Macedonia is low. How will it increase if young people at the peak of their productivity are forced to be unemployed, while the jobs are held by people, who according to their physical condition, already deserve to retire? This is something the bosses should think about as well. Let them consider whether, in the context of increasing labor productivity, it is right to support the raise of the age of retirement.

What does raising the age limit as the last option mean?

The Minister of Labor and Social Policy, Carovska, stated three months ago that the last decision for the Pension Insurance Fund is an increase in the age limit. Such a statement was given by Minister Tevdovski. But only two days later, Prime Minister Zaev diminished the statements of his ministers and made it clear that raising the retirement age is at play. We will not dwell here on what it means when a Prime Minister diminishes the statements of his ministers. What is important here is to warn that when the Prime Minister, especially in Macedonia, says that it is possible for an unpopular measure to be applied – that measure will certainly apply. If there is no resistance.
Raising the retirement age must only be the last option. After virtually all other measures are exhausted. This, in turn, means that this measure cannot be applied in parallel with other measures. It is not acceptable to frame the problem of “employers must loosen up a little, then the workers should loosen up a little”. Due to Gruevski’s open pro-business policy, the bosses got considerably wealthier during his reign. When Gruevski reduced the social security contributions, the money that was left did not divide the “little bit for the boss, a bit for the workers” principle”. The bosses took all that money. How, in this context, can one talk about the division of the load? Let’s not forget that the reduction of the contribution rate for pension and disability insurance has contributed to the reduction of the future pensions of the current workers.
The government is talking about an alarming situation with the pension fund. Well, if that was the case, why did they wait so long to introduce progressive taxation? Why still postpone that measure? Why did not they abolish, as promised before elections, the maximum basis for payment of contributions, which additionally enriches the richest? Let the contribution rate for pension and disability insurance be restored to the level that was before Gruevski reduced it. The privilege of foreign investors in terms of payment of contributions should be abolished. Have the UPOZ proposal be applied to increase the percentage of the contribution to the first pillar at the expense of the percentage that goes into the second pillar. Let the number of concealed working relationships decrease, so some of the people working part-time will be employed in regular employment. And this will increase the inflow of funds into the pension fund. In the end, abolish the privileges of officials, travel expenses and apanages, reduce the number of MPs to 90, and even 60. And so, the majority of them are fond of the Assembly. Reduce the number of ministers in the government. And you said that you would do it. And when all of this is done and if there is a problem with the pension fund, then only then think about increasing the retirement age.

Will we allow this?

It depends on us. SDSM is a party that serves the big capital. Just like VMRO-DPMNE. It was unfortunate to see how easily the people fell to SDSM’s propaganda that they had learned something during the long-standing opposition. They learned nothing. And they did not stop serving the oligarchy. If we do not want to pay the price for the fraudulent policies of the rulers, we must raise our voice. Macedonia, according to the Constitution, is a social state. In reality, it is not. If we want in reality to be so, we must fight for it. Otherwise, we are only talking in vain.

The author is a political scientist and a member of Levica