Govt., business want retirement age stretched to 65, labor balks

Sano Domingo.- Labor minister Winston Antonio Santos’ proposal to extend the age of retirement to achieve higher pensions on Wed. received the support of employers, but warily by the unions.

Interviewed by El Caribe, the official cautioned that if the current pension regime isn’t changed, the only way out for Dominican workers to get a better pension it is to increase their quotas; obtain higher salaries and prolong the retirement age from 60 to 65.

On Wed., Fermin Acosta president of the association of employers grouped in the Copordom) praised Santos’ statement, labeling him “a typical connoisseur of the system and of Social Security Law 87-01.”

Meanwhile, Jacobo Ramos, president of the CNTD union, warned that labor disagrees with raising the percentage which the workers have as savings for their pension, “because in the country wages are depressed and reach for little and much less with a later retirement.”

“Why don’t we sit down with the business sector to discuss salaries that are dignified, where we can contemplate the increase that arises for the workers, in such a way that they can achieve a higher quota and a better future,?” Ramos said.