SAK: Higher retiring age requires measures throughout the working career

The Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions - SAK is stressing that delaying the age at which employees retire will require measures to be taken throughout the working career. SAK published its own proposals for career extension this week.

- We have to make sure that people can cope with their work at every stage of their working careers. The objective is for workers to reach retiring age in a fit and healthy condition, explained the newly appointed SAK President Lauri Lyly when the organisation&#;8217s proposals were formally announced.

SAK would like to see a statutory guarantee of preventative occupational health care for all employees. The organisation estimates that the average age at which employees retire in Finland would increase by a year if effective occupational health care was provided at all workplaces, as is currently required by law.

As many as half a million people of working age (about 20 per cent of the country’s total workforce) are not covered by occupational health care schemes. This problem is particularly severe for employees working far from home, casual workers and people working for small businesses.

SAK would also give employees more opportunities to reduce their working hours under certain circumstances, such as advancing age, and when studying and parenting small children.

The organisation is proposing that an age programme be drawn up at all workplaces with a view to prolonging the working careers of employees. The needs of older employees would be recognised by providing opportunities to take seniority leave, to work only part-time, and to apply other flexible working arrangements.

SAK would like to help younger employees to cope in the job market by ensuring universal access to proper vocational training. A substantial increase in training opportunities for less academically advanced adults would also be required.

Social partners join forces to formulate new proposals

The working career extension initiatives of SAK are the organisation’s contribution to a national debate on higher retiring ages that has taken place in Finland this year. In February 2009 the Finnish government made a sudden and unilateral announcement of a decision to increase the minimum retiring age from 63 to 65 years. However, the combined measures of the country’s three national labour and employer confederations coupled with the strength of public opinion on this question quickly forced the government to reconsider its position.

Following negotiations the government and labour market organisations settled the retiring age question with an accord signed in March 2009. This agreement seeks an increase by the year 2025 of three years in the average projected retiring age of people over 25 years of age from the current level of 59.4 years.

The concrete proposals for delaying the age of retirement will be formulated by two working groups that are due to report by the end of the year. Both of these working groups primarily comprise representatives of the national labour and employer confederations. The working groups are pursuing their mandate in association with various government departments.