The Senate plenary gave the green light, with the unanimous support of all political groups, to two laws that will benefit firefighters and forestry and environmental agents through regulations that represent a definitive step for recognize this group as a risky profession and give them access to early retirement. Access to retirement will be established from the age of 59 according to the approved contribution periods.
Amendments incorporated during the parliamentary process include reducing coefficients of 0.2. In other words, workers could advance their access to retirement pension for a maximum of 5 or 6 years (i.e. at least from age 59) without seeing its profit affected.
They must have a minimum of 15 years of contributions as firefighters or forestry agents, a period similar to that required to receive the contributory pension. Likewise, they must be registered at the time of the advance request; or prove this period while practicing another registered profession.
The articles include the common and fundamental aspects demanded by both groups, such as the anticipation of retirement age, the adaptation of jobs, improvements to avoid exposure to professional risks, the promotion of training, the integration of equality rights and gender.
The text also includes the Catalan homonyms, the Cos d’Agents Rurales. Through an amendment presented by Junts, it sets the additional contribution rate for this group at 10.6% in exchange for early retirement, of which 8.84% will be borne by the company and 1.76% borne by the worker.
This initiative plans to modify the general social security law in parallel with the new regulations developed by the ministry for early retirement. In all cases, the regulations in force at the time of submission of the reports and the relevant requirements will be followed to justify the advance payment of the group.
Professional categories
From the most specific point of view and in the case of forest firefighters, the approved regulation included the regulation of professional categories, definition of functions, limitation of working hoursservice delivery and training.
“Forest firefighter” is established as the only category, leaving the eleven specialties that regulated the group, due to their particular autonomy. In the case of forest officers, their policing, guarding and surveillance functions are consolidated and strengthened, along with other performance, management and planning capacities.
“This latest procedure is the end of the road towards a much-needed law, given the lack of homogenization of the group and the regulatory limits necessary for basic regulation of all forest firefighter personnel,” underlines the CCOO union .
