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Six months ago, unions and builders patted each other on the back and celebrated a shared success story: the twentieth anniversary of the FAR Foundation for flexible pensions in construction. Since 2003, this social partnership solution has allowed road builders, masons and iron layers to retire at the age of 60 through additional wage deductions.
The aim was to take into account the heavy physical strain on construction workers and alleviate the associated problems in old age. The unions speak of a “social-political achievement” and the builders also praise the “pioneer model”. More than 28,000 employees have used it so far.
One of them is Peter Leuenberger (64) from Bern. He worked in construction for more than four decades, most recently as a foreman at Marti AG. His grandfather and two uncles worked in construction, and he himself helped out occasionally as a teenager. With the exception of a one-year break from driving, he remained loyal to the industry his entire life.
Although he has been FAR retired since 2019, he can still be found on temporary assignments on construction sites in the Inselspital of Bern. He is currently busy with renovation work in the operating rooms. “I work three or four days a month – I just enjoy it,” he says.
Still, he is happy with his early retirement. “Even with machines, it is still difficult to work in construction.” Wet and cold in particular would cause problems for the residents of Büez, says Leuenberger. “The longer you feel it, the stronger it becomes in your bones; After the age of fifty it becomes increasingly difficult.”
The work also felt one way or another for him. “It hurts here and there, for example with shoulder and joint pain,” says Leuenberger. Rheumatism is especially noticeable in winter. “There were days when I could barely press the clutch in the company car because of the pain.”
However, many of his colleagues have bigger health problems than he does. The trade unionist is even more concerned that the retirement age for Büezers could now increase again.
People’s initiative with consequences
The reason for this is the Young Liberals’ pension initiative, which will be put to the vote on March 3: this endangers the construction worker’s pension at the age of 60. If the vote is ‘yes’, the retirement age would gradually increase from 65 to 66 in 2033, and then be linked to life expectancy: it would have to increase by 0.8 months for every month of additional life expectancy. Go to 67, 68 or more. Automatically.
This would also increase the FAR retirement age. The collective labor agreement explicitly states that the benefit period is “limited to the last five years before the normal AHV retirement age”. If the pension initiative goes ahead, the age limit for construction workers will also increase to 61, 62 years or higher.
“This is completely at odds with the original intention,” says Nico Lutz (53), head of the construction sector at the Unia union. Before the introduction of the FAR model, only about a fifth of construction workers would have reached retirement age in good health, the rest had left the job earlier: about a fifth had died beforehand or ended up disabled, according to Lutz. And more than 40 percent reportedly switched to another industry because of the stress. He makes it clear: “At age 60, many construction workers are physically exhausted and may not be able to cope for another year or two.”
Early retirement is also at risk elsewhere
The unions will mobilize on a broad front against the young liberal initiative. Executor Leuenberger will also be involved. Early retirement is not only at risk in the construction sector; The rules are also being questioned in other sectors. Similar solutions exist, for example, in the painting and plastering industry, in the marble and granite industry and in the French-speaking Swiss finishing industry. “A higher retirement age is simply not realistic in these sectors,” complains Unia man Nico Lutz.
This is not how the Swiss Association of Master Builders sees it, which supports the pension initiative despite the consequences for the FAR model. This is due to the overall social responsibility to secure pension provision in the medium term, explains deputy director Marcel Sennhauser (54).
The gradual increase in the retirement age, together with the latest AHV reform, would guarantee the financial balance of the AHV until 2045. He also points out that some workers continue to work well into their 60s – “even beyond the current retirement age”.
Source:Blick
I am Liam Livingstone and I work in a news website. My main job is to write articles for the 24 Instant News. My specialty is covering politics and current affairs, which I’m passionate about. I have worked in this field for more than 5 years now and it’s been an amazing journey. With each passing day, my knowledge increases as well as my experience of the world we live in today.
