It may not exactly have been earth-shattering news, because the measure was long in coming, but on January 27 Parliament unanimously approved the increase of the pension age for civil
servants from 60 to 62. The move was related to last November’s decision to also increase the general old age pension AOV age from 60 to 62.
In both cases there is a two-year transition phase, so it won’t be until 2018 that the first government employees retire at 62 to start receiving their APS pension. Equally, that’s when the first batch of people won’t receive their AOV before they turn 62.
So far so good, but the potential for problems remains. The private sector needs to adjust and keep their personnel on two years longer, which in certain cases could require amending a Collective Labour Agreement (CLA). It is important for the businesses and the trade unions to work together on this, so that no unpleasant surprises occur later down the road, such as persons being left without sufficient income.
Take St. Elisabeth Hospital in Curaçao, where the AOV age was even raised from 60 to 65 with a similar two-year grace period. The latter has passed and there is currently a conflict between nursing union CBV and the hospital’s management, which has offered to let the staff work until they’re 62 rather than 60, but not 65.
The latter would mean these people have to wait another three years after losing their salary to receive the old age pension, with all possible consequences. On the other hand, as an employer just allowing everybody to work five years longer might impact plans to naturally reduce personnel or their average age.
The latest news from Willemstad is that the two parties involved apparently have found each other in some sort of compromise, but this example does illustrate the kinds of difficulties that may arise. For the social partners in St. Maarten it therefore seems advisable to take a proactive attitude and address any potential issues from now, before negative effects start being felt.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
