New regulations on retirement age: Need to ensure harmony of workers' interests
(Baonghean.vn) - From 2021, new regulations on retirement age will officially be applied. Accordingly, workers will increase their retirement age to 60 years old for women and 62 years old for men. This new regulation has also had a significant impact on workers, including special workers.
Increase benefits for workers
The 2019 Labor Code, effective from January 1, 2021, has adjusted regulations onretirement ageand on November 18, 2020, the Government issued Decree No. 135/2020/ND-CP regulating retirement age.
Accordingly, from 2021, the retirement age of employees in normal working conditions (according to Clause 2, Article 169 of the Labor Code) is stipulated as 60 years and 3 months for male employees and 55 years and 4 months for female employees; then, it will increase by 3 months each year for male employees until reaching 62 years old in 2028 and by 4 months each year for female employees until reaching 60 years old in 2035.
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| The work of an environmental sanitation worker is a special job in a toxic environment. (Photo taken on Le Loi Street - Vinh City). Photo: Duc Anh |
This new regulation has also had a significant impact on workers, right in the first year of implementation, even though in 2021, the retirement age of each person will only be extended by 4 months. For Ms. Nguyen Thi Linh - former President of the Women's Union of Quynh Hung Commune (Quynh Luu), it is expected that she will reach retirement age in October 2020. However, applying the new regulations, her retirement period will be extended until 2021.
Talking about this change, Ms. Linh also said: “I grew up in the commune, so compared to people of the same age, the official time to pay social insurance is later. In particular, there was a quite long time when we participatedVoluntary social insurance. Currently, when the retirement age is extended and although the time is not much, we are still happy because we have more time to contribute to local movements, extend the time to participate in social insurance, and contribute to improving our salary after retirement."
The extension of retirement age has also had a great impact on many workers and most of them believe that this will help workers have the opportunity to develop their experience, knowledge, and abilities, especially for skilled, knowledgeable, and qualified workers. For example, at Nghe An Mental Hospital, although this job is quite specific and is classified as a job that "can be retired early", up to this point, the number of workers applying for early retirement is very small. On the contrary, extending the retirement age is a condition for them to improve their skills and have more time to devote to their work.
“For a long time, recruiting workers, especially doctors, to our hospital has been very difficult and for many years the hospital has been in a state of shortage of doctors. Therefore, extending the retirement age is meaningful for both workers and the hospital. For those working in the health sector, the longer the working time, the more senior and experienced they are.”
Previously, the increase in retirement age had received many different opinions. However, the decision to increase the retirement age was considered to be in line with the general situation when Vietnam is in the "golden population" period and preparing the premises for the population aging period. Experts in this field also said that currently, the life expectancy of Vietnamese people has improved, when the average life expectancy is above the world average. Meanwhile, working conditions have improved significantly, so workers also tend to want to extend their working time to increase their income and improve their pension when they retire.
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| Class time of students at Muong Tip Kindergarten (Ky Son). Photo: My Ha |
In fact, in recent times, many qualified workers in many units in the province, even though they have reached retirement age, have still been signed contracts by their units to continue working and contributing. In particular, many are concentrated in teams such as teachers, doctors, engineers and those doing research work.
Need to pay attention to special labor objects
The new regulations on retirement age, in addition to positive factors, also have a significant impact on some specific labor groups. At Nghe An Urban Environment and Construction Joint Stock Company, there are currently many employees who have not reached retirement age but have wished to retire early due to poor health. Meanwhile, to re-evaluate health, according to current regulations, employees must be of age to be assessed.
After more than twenty years of street cleaning, leaving early, returning late and being exposed to a lot of garbage, the health of the women in the group has been affected. Now, as we get older, it is becoming more difficult to continue the work and most of us have had to retire early.
With 27 years of social insurance contributions, according to regulations, Ms. Hoa can retire. However, because she is not yet at retirement age, Ms. Hoa has closed her social insurance book and must wait until she is old enough to be assessed to retire according to the regime.
“Our company’s specialty is hard labor, and when the time to pay social insurance is sufficient, employees all want to retire. But with the current new regulations, it is clear that the waiting time for employees to retire is prolonged. Therefore, we hope that the Labor Federation at all levels and the Social Insurance agency need to have a voice to create conditions for employees in specific occupations to have their policies resolved early and retire before the age of retirement.
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| Preschool teaching is considered a special and difficult job. Photo: My Ha |
Regarding this issue, after the new regulations on retirement age were issued, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs also issued Circular 11/2020/TT-BLDTBXH announcing a list of 1,833 occupations eligible for early retirement. Among them, there are many specific jobs in different fields such as: National reserves (5 occupations), cryptography (15 occupations), commerce (46 occupations), healthcare (66 occupations), culture - sports (47 occupations), banking (16 occupations), customs (9 occupations), tourism (8 occupations), education (4 occupations), land administration (6 occupations)... However, according to many opinions, this list still does not include enough occupations and jobs that are heavy, toxic, and dangerous.
Faced with this reality, the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor has just proposed that the Government add preschool teachers, physical education teachers and 12 military professions to the list of arduous, toxic and dangerous jobs and occupations eligible for early retirement.
Compared to other levels of education, preschool teachers have their own professional characteristics and they need many criteria in addition to expertise, they must have health to care for and nurture children. Therefore, in my opinion, preschool teachers also need to be given the conditions to retire early according to the wishes of each individual to ensure the rights of workers and also in accordance with the actual work context, ensuring the quality of education and training.
The new regulations on retirement age officially took effect from January 1, 2021 and up to this point, most workers have been informed and introduced to the changes of the 2019 Labor Code and policies related to retirement age. However, in practice, it has been shown that when applied to each subject, there are specific problems that need to be resolved and are waiting to be answered. In order to effectively implement the new regulations, on January 7, 2021, the Provincial People's Committee issued a plan to implement the Labor Law in the province.
Accordingly, this year, the requirements are that sectors such as: Social Insurance, Labor Federation, Department of Justice, Southeast Economic Zone Management Board and a number of related departments and sectors need to continue to propagate, disseminate and educate about the Labor Code. In particular, promote dialogue on labor law, inspection of the implementation of the Labor Code, including new policies on retirement age and wages so that workers can update and fully understand the State's policies, promptly resolve any problems if any./.
