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In the summer of 2019, the employers’ association and the two central trade union organizations Travailsuisse and the trade union federation struck a surprise blow: they had agreed on a “social partners compromise” for a reform of the occupational pension scheme (BVG). A deal in which both parties have to swallow toads.
The Federal Council stands firm
But despite widespread criticism: the Federal Council is behind the pension compromise. Already last year in the consultation process, and now on Wednesday in his message to parliament. These are the most important points:
- Lower conversion rate: The minimum conversion rate will be reduced from the current 6.8 percent to 6.0 percent. This means that for every CHF 100,000 saved in retirement capital, there is only CHF 6,000 instead of CHF 6,800 per year. As soon as the invoice takes effect, the conversion rate will be reduced in one step. The loss of associated pension must be compensated with a pension supplement.
- Pension supplement: In the future, all BVG pension beneficiaries will receive a fixed supplementary pension. For the first five cohorts of new pensioners after entry into force it is 200 francs, for the next five cohorts it is 150 francs and for the next five cohorts it is 100 francs. In accordance with this, the Federal Council sets the amount of the pension supplement each year based on available funds. The supplement is financed by an additional salary of 0.5 per cent on the annual income subject to AHV up to CHF 853,200. This results in a redistribution of the rich to lower income. A gift of 1.8 billion francs a year that the unions insisted on.
- Adjusted retirement credits: The salary contributions to the pension fund, the so-called retirement credits, will be adjusted. A new age credit of 9 percent (previously 7 or 10 percent) is applied to BVG-based salary between the ages of 25 and 44. Starting at age 45, the retirement credit is 14 percent. percent (before 15 or 18 percent). This will reduce retirement credits, especially for older workers. This should also improve your chances in the job market.
- Lower coordination deduction: The coordination deduction, which determines the insured salary, will be halved from the current CHF 24,885 to CHF 12,443 new. This ensures a higher salary. Low wage earners, including many part-time workers and women, receive better social protection against old age and disability.
The pension reform, which will ensure the level of pensions, will cost around 3 billion francs. If the parliament accepts it, the reform could, in the best of cases, enter into force from 2022.
The social partners are delighted
The three social partners involved are satisfied with the message of the Federal Council, in a joint press release. “The consultation has shown that the three objectives of the bill – maintenance of benefits, improvements for women and modernization of the second pillar – are in the majority,” she says. The model chosen by the Federal Council achieves these objectives through a combination of contribution and benefit measures. The proposal guarantees good value for money and is therefore also attractive to SMEs.
«With the commitment, the largest structural deficits in
the corrected occupational pension ‘, so the employer-president Valentin Vogt (60). The president of the Trade Union Federation, Pierre-Yves Maillard (52), affirms: “The serious problem of the pensions of the pension funds, which have been falling for more than ten years, is addressed for the first time with this proposal.”
Travailsuisse Chairman Adrian Wüthrich (40) stresses that low-income workers and part-time workers will be helped to obtain significantly better pensions. “That will ultimately also improve the pension situation for women.”
The pension supplement meets resistance
A heated debate is scheduled in Parliament. It is true that the bourgeois parties support the drive for reform. However, the proposed pension supplement has encountered resistance.
The CVP rejects “such redistribution,” as it writes in a statement. He wants to finance financial protection for a transitional generation through extraordinary and specific distributions from the National Bank; those pension funds must be backed by security funds that could not manage the compensation themselves.
And the FDP considers that the Federal Council’s adherence to the pension supplement is “difficult to understand.”
The trade association, in turn, decidedly rejects the pension supplement. The resulting percentage wage increases are unsustainable in the current economic situation. he writes.
