The service union Verdi has rejected the Social Democratic Party’s (SPD) suggestions regarding job-specific exceptions for early retirement after 45 years of service. According to Verdi Chairman Frank Werneke, it is inappropriate to differentiate between various employment groups.
The discussion centers on potential hardship rules for particularly long-serving workers. The SPD’s fraction leader, Dirk Wiese, had initially proposed allowing certain professional groups to exit the labor market before the standard retirement age, modeled after the Austrian strenuous labor pension.
Werneke criticized the idea of using the Austrian model, asking how one could objectively judge whether 45 years of insurance contributed more or less strain. He argued that personal health conditions and perceived workload vary too widely from person to person to be assessed using objective criteria. Therefore, he insisted that all long-term insured individuals must be granted the same rights, just as they currently are.
Both Verdi and IG Metall, two of Germany’s largest individual unions, are opposing Wiese’s proposals. IG Metall, through its executive board member Ralf Reinstädtler for social policy, also made its refusal clear. He stated that anyone who spent 45 years working, keeping the country running, and paying taxes and contributions month after month, regardless of their profession, had earned a good pension.
Werneke further commented positively on the growing recognition from various state leaders of the flaws in the federal government’s Pension Commission proposal, which aimed to abolish the tax-free pension for those with 45 years of insurance. He emphasized that the planned removal of this pension form dismisses the life achievements of the affected citizens, asserting that this form of pension must be maintained.
