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Italian govt okays retirement plans |
ROME: The Italian government has approved controversial pension reforms that would raise the retirement age to 60.
The reforms were agreed after more than 82% of workers earlier this week approved the plan by Prime Minister Romano Prodi’s government in a three-day non-binding union-organised referendum. The plan had been agreed with three trade union confederations in July.
The reforms approved yesterday were slightly amended by the government after the referendum at the insistence of green and communist ministers.
Among the changes are the abolition of a ceiling on the number of workers with particularly difficult jobs allowed to retire early and the toughening of conditions for prolonging contracts for insecure jobs.
The reforms now have to go for approval to parliament before the end of the year.
In the upper house Senate, the government has only a one-seat majority and normally counts on the support of the far-left Refoundation Communist party. Some leftist deputies have indicated they will seek more modifications to the pension law.
Under the reform the retirement age will be raised from 57 to 58 by next year, and then to 60 by 2011.
A previous reform passed under the centre-right government of Silvio Berlusconi called for raising the retirement age to 60 from next year.
Under Prodi’s proposal, those who retire at 58 next year will need to have paid into the system for 35 years. But by 2011, 60-year-olds will need to have made payments for 36 years. – AFP |
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