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It was a historic buzz when SV leader Audun Lysbakken and FRP leader Siv Jensen flanked leader Jan Davidsen at the Pensioners Association to present an agreement on how to lift up the country’s pensioners.
– Now we have found a way that we hope can raise the minimum pensioners. We want the minimum pensions to increase to the EU poverty line in the coming years. How quickly it can happen depends on negotiations with the other parties, says SV Lysbakken leader.
Echo 2003
The two party leaders, who rarely agree, are now sending an invitation to the other parliamentary leaders of the Storting. Jensen himself highlighted the historical fact that the two parties agree. The last time was in 2003 when Jensen himself and then-SV Deputy Leader Øystein Djupedal entered the kindergarten settlement.
Soon after, the Labor Party and the rest of the party flora followed. The hope is that the same thing happens again.
– It has been more than 17 years since SV and Frp agreed on the kindergarten agreement. Today we are taking the initiative of a new settlement, a settlement of pensioners. FRP has developed in collaboration with the Pensioners Association and SV a proposal that facilitates a more predictable growth of pensions. We also propose a temporary scheme for pension growth when wages do not increase, says Siv Jensen.
– We cannot disappoint widows
Wants a vast majority
The proposals will be supported by at least the Labor Party and the Center Party in the Storting.
– The objective is to get the majority in the Storting. We hope that the other parties will accept the invitation we are now sending and that we can quickly sit down at the negotiating table, says Lysbakken.
Today, pensions are under-regulated according to the evolution of wages multiplied by 0.75. This means that in case of poor salary agreements, pensioners lose purchasing power.
The leader of the Labor Party, Jonas Gahr Støre, welcomes the initiative.
– What is coming from SV, Frp and Pensjonistforbundet is good news for retirees, and in line with what the Labor Party has wanted to say. We have said that those with the lowest pensions should be given a boost, that pensioners deserve better regulation, that is, one that takes into account both price and wage growth. And we have said that retirees should not risk falling into the red while salaried employees do. The Labor Party is also open to a solution where we see a kind of bargaining boat for retirees, Støre writes in an email to Dagbladet.
Lundteigen Olm
One who also supports the proposals, but remains furious, is Per Olaf Lundteigen of the Center Party.
He has worked around the clock for years to build a boost for retirees, but was left on the sidelines when the deal was sealed between SV, Frp and the Retirees Association.
– This just ended. I have elm, to put it bluntly, says Lundteigen.
– I am very happy that they copy what the Center Party has done, but it is very sad that they have not allowed us to attend the press conference. This is a blueprint of what the Center Party and I have been campaigning for for a long time, continues the SP veteran.
He still puts bad feelings aside and promises the support of the Center Party.
– Of course we will support this, but it is only fair that they try to take this case. I think there should be more honesty. We have clearly told the Pensioners Association that we have not been given the natural role together with SV and Frp, when they have found it too good to do the same, says Lundteigen.
Fury against the government: – A gross treason.
Continuous resistance
Both Jensen and Lysbakken say that they are still against the pension deal, that both parties stood by.
– The opposition of the FRP to the pension agreement is firm, but there is no majority in the Storting. In recent years especially, there have been pay deals that make it particularly difficult, Jensen says, and it’s followed by his new best friend Lysbakken, who was the one who took the lead for the deal.
– Our opposition to the pension system remains, but we believe that it is possible to come together around a temporary solution that will be more in the spirit of reform. I don’t think anyone wanted pensioners to lose purchasing power in 2011. The introduction of the right to negotiate and the regulation of minimum pensions can be done without touching the pension agreement, says Lysbakken.
These are the proposals that SV and Frp will present tomorrow at the Storting:
1. The Storting requests the Government to present the necessary proposals as soon as possible to ensure that the country’s pensioners do not lose purchasing power, provided that employees do not do otherwise. The principle is based on the regulation of social security settlements such as average wages and inflation. The plan should take effect from 2020.
2. The Storting calls on the Government to establish a plan for the annual escalation of the minimum pension level to the EU poverty line (EU60), where the first step of the escalation plan will be implemented in 2020.
3. The Storting requests the Government to introduce the right to bargain for pensioners’ organizations in social security settlements, assuming that the funds between the calculated average growth of wages and prices and the growth of wages are delivered for the negotiation in years when it is a positive amount. Funds will be prioritized to raise the minimum pension level until the goal of the phasing plan for minimum pensioners is reached. The Pensioners ‘Association / SAKO will be responsible for negotiations on behalf of the pensioners’ organizations.
4. The Storting requests the Government to ensure that the Storting receives a separate case on the social security arrangement and the income conditions of pensioners (St. mld 4) for consideration at the spring session and not at the fall session like today.
5. The Storting calls on the government to ensure that the Pensioners Association has a place at TBU, on behalf of pensioners’ organizations.
6. The Storting requests the Government to establish quarterly meetings between pensioners’ organizations and the Government, where pensions and other issues of interest to retirees can be raised and discussed.
