February 2020

19Feb

Athens Gridlocked as Transport Workers Strike Over Pension Bill

Traffic in parts of the Greek capital came to a standstill on Tuesday as Greek transport workers joined a 24-hour public sector strike over pension reforms. Buses, trolleys, trams and metro transportation will be out of operation for the day. Also Read Greece. Pension hikes to come in June Workers from the Athens suburban railway Proastiakos and intercity trains announced late on Monday that they will also participate in the strikes. Public hospitals will operate on skeleton staffs, as the...

February 19, 2020
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18Feb

French MPs begin debating controversial pensions bill

The battle over the French government's pension reforms moved from the street to parliament on Monday, with the opposition vowing to torpedo an overhaul that sparked weeks of strikes and protests. Leftist unions are up in arms over President Emmanuel Macron's bid to fuse France's 42 different retirement schemes into a single points-based system. Also Read A low birth rate and a rapidly ageing population: Europe’s demographic crisis explained Public transport workers walked off the job for a month...

February 18, 2020
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14Feb

Ireland. Hundreds of community employment scheme supervisors to strike

Hundreds of community employment (CE) scheme supervisors are to hold a one-day strike on Friday over access to a pension scheme. The supervisors will join with staff working in organisations providing health and social care services that receive State grant-aid (known as section 39 bodies) at a protest to be held in Dublin on Friday. In addition, section 39 workers are scheduled to take industrial action on February 21st in a dispute over pay restoration. The rally is being...

February 14, 2020
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12Feb

Need for pensions reform in Zimmbabwe

By Abisha Ndoro The occupational pension fund industry in Zimbabwe is a national crisis. A collective introspection by industry practitioners, boards of trustees, regulators, policymakers and other stakeholders is now necessary in addressing the myriad of underlying problems and reposition pension funds on a platform of long-term sustainability for future generations of retirees. The purpose of this, and subsequent articles, is to begin a process of stimulating debate as we examine the problems besetting the pensions system and crystallise...

February 12, 2020
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06Feb

Greek public sector workers to strike over pension bill on Feb. 18

The civil servants’ union ADEDY has called a 24-hour strike for February 18 in protest at the conservative government’s legislation on pensions which is to go before a vote in Parliament this month. According to ADEDY, the bill perpetuates austerity measures introduced by governments during the crisis years, including auxiliary pension cuts of up to 50 percent. The union is calling for the revocation of all pension cuts imposed during the country’s financial crisis, the return of the so-called...

February 6, 2020
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06Feb

French strikes pass two-month mark with protest planned for Paris

French unions have called for another national day of protest against the government’s pension reform plan on Thursday - the day the plans come before the French parliament. But, two months in to the social movement, the level of disruption was expected to be low compared to what the country saw in the early days of the social movement. Transport is running almost as normal across the country - even in Paris, which was the area hardest hit by...

February 6, 2020
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05Feb

Estonia. President not to hold further legal assessment of pension reform bill

President Kersti Kaljulaid is not planning to commission a legal assessment on the government bill to reform the Estonian pensions system, which passed the Riigikogu on January 29. "Over recent months, various parties have been conducting analyses on pension reform, and we do not plan to add to that," the president's communications officer Taavi Linnamäe told ERR. This did not mean the president would not be thoroughly examining the bill, which makes employee contributions to the so-called second pillar of...

February 5, 2020
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04Feb

Ireland’s pensions: All set for big changes

This year is set to be pivotal for the Irish pension system. Ambitious plans set out in 2018 are progressing, albeit with problems still to be resolved, while the government is expected to introduce legislation enacting the EU’s IORP II directive – more than a year after the deadline passed in January 2019. Changes to the state pension age are also coming into force, rising from 66 to 67. However, the Irish Association of Pension Funds (IAPF) has...

February 4, 2020
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03Feb

France. Pension reform: debates kick off with 22,000 amendments

71 French members of Parliament will today start examining a controverisial pension reform bill in an ad-hoc commission. The opposition has submitted some 22,000 amendments. Read also French strikes pass two-month mark with protest planned for Paris The 71 members of the Assemblée Nationale on this special commission have just two weeks to examine the 70 articles of the two pension reform bills which have fueled strikes and protests across France since 5 December 2019. The bills will then be subject to debate in Parliament...

February 3, 2020
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01Feb

Reforming Pensions in Developing and Transition Countries (Social Policy in a Development Context)

By K. Hujo This book moves beyond technical studies of pension systems by addressing the political economy of pension reform in different contexts. It provides insights into key issues related to pension policy and its developmental implications, drawing on selected country studies in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. Get the book here

February 1, 2020
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