The new Parliamentary Council wants to end the open conflict with its workers following the decisions taken during the last legislature to put an end by decree to several privileged situations, such as exorbitant retirement bonuses or permits to receive without going to work. from a certain age.
After more than two years with the staff council on a war footing, Parliament this week concluded an agreement which will make it possible, immediately, to put an end to the most expensive retirement bonuses, those which exceeded 90,000 euros, in at the same time as they will gradually reduce all others, until they disappear in 2050.
Until now, these types of bonuses were received by all workers who retired at the legal age. They were calculated in relation to a series of monthly payments, based on time worked. After 16 years of service, a maximum of the last gross annual salary received could be received, which resulted in astronomical figures for the institution’s senior civil servants, some of whom received gross salaries of up to 230,000 euros.
This cannot happen again because all bonuses are capped at a maximum calculated by multiplying Parliament’s lowest salary by 2.5, or around 90,000 euros. This maximum will also be gradually reduced year after year in a first phase which will affect 70 of the 233 Parliament workers.
The others, those who are expected to retire after 2030, will be affected by even more restrictive limits. For example, no one will now earn more than 40,000 euros in 10 years and, in 20 years, this will be reduced to 15,000.
Parliament sources explain that the bonus bill, as it was before the agreement, would have been around 17 million euros, while today it will remain at just under 9 million, they therefore calculate a saving of almost half.
But, in addition, these same sources emphasize that it is a way of putting an end to the labor conflict which has agitated the daily life of Parliament in recent years, taking into account the fact that workers had acquired rights which, they were taken to court, could maintain.
The agreement concluded between the Council and the staff of the Chamber provides, in addition to the question of retirement bonuses, two other aspects: the bonus for permanence in the institution which is paid every five years after 25 years of work and the plan pensions.
In this case, although the will of the Chamber is to evolve towards a system of incentives based on objectives, the so-called “connection reward” is maintained, although it can no longer be paid directly, but you can choose between a month’s vacation or a pension contribution. On this last point, the agreement provides for the reactivation of the stock market frozen in 2013.
