Note published in El Economista, Empresas [Companies] section by María del Pilar Martínez
Read the note in its original source
Labor specialist Ricardo Martínez Rojas stated today that “Mexico spends one trillion pesos in the payment of pensions, this is truly an insult and it goes against world logic on pensions”.
Far from looking for solutions, what the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) does is taking steps backward by permitting workers to retire at age 55, when life expectancy has increased and, additionally, workers retire with 100 percent of their integrated base salary, while other workers barely obtain a minimum pension, stated labor specialist Ricardo Martínez Rojas, partner at the D&M Firm.
“The highest debt the Mexican government has is that of pensions; this is unbelievable, it is a true lack of equity that employees from the CFE, Pemex and the IMSS [Mexican Social Security Institute] have a pension of 100% of their integrated salary and can retire at 55; it is truly unfair to everyone else”, he stated.
The Sindicato Único de Trabajadores Electricistas de la República Mexicana (SUTERM) [Sole Union of Electrical Workers of the Mexican Republic] signed the revision of its collective bargaining agreement and was able to revert the conditions of the 2014-2016 agreement. This means that, currently, a CFE worker can become a pensioner after 25 years of service and 55 years of age or else after 30 years of service, regardless of age. And women can become pensioners after 25 years of service, regardless of age.
In this sense, the labor expert stated that “Mexico spends one trillion pesos in the payment of pensions, this is truly an insult and it goes against world logic on pensions”.
On the other hand, we are currently working on a project for the reform of the pension system to increase payments made by employers from 5 to 14%, and “these people are currently giving money away, it is because of their pension system that the CFE and Pemex are insolvent and the IMSS is bankrupt. What is happening is an insult”.
He also said that there is no doubt that “this pension scheme is a victory for the workers, and that is fine, but neither a pension system or a benefit can go as far as causing the company to go bankrupt, making it go against all of its finances. If the CFE and Pemex pension systems were to decrease by 40%, said companies would operate at a profit, that is just how big the hole is”.
