From: Colombian Labor Monitor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Tue, 15 May 2001 10:48:18 -0500 (CDT)
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: REUTERS: Colombia tip-toes into tense pension reform debate
[NOTE: The Colombian working class in being squeezed dry in the
neoliberal "reforms" that undermine the already meager benefits
that some workers have. With the average life expectancy at 70
years, the "reforms" would push the retirment age closer to 70.
Nobody ever things of squeezing the superprofit-hungry
corporations that exploit working people. All concessions are on
the back of the working class. -DG]
================================================
Unions have fiercely opposed any cut in pension
benefits, and many analysts believe Pastrana's
proposal may not be passed before he leaves
office next year -- especially given the arduous
battle to reform pensions elsewhere in Latin
America.
____________ ================================================
REUTERS
Monday, 14 May 2001
Colombia tip-toes into tense
pension reform debate
----------------------------
By Javier Mozzo Pena
BOGOTA -- Unions, industry leaders and lawmakers sat down with President
Andres Pastrana Monday to tackle a key IMF-agreed pension reform program
needed to slash the government's fiscal deficit.
Tensions ahead of the meeting were high as Pastrana -- aiming to meet a
fiscal deficit target of 2.8 percent of gross domestic product in 2001 --
suggests sweeping cuts to a debt-ladened and long protected pension
program the government on Monday called "a time-bomb".
"We should be conscious that this is a time bomb that could explode in our
faces any minute," Finance Minister Juan Manuel Santos told reporters
shortly before the meeting.
The meeting, likely to be the first of many, aims to find a way of
reducing the cost of a pension system whose liabilities are twice the size
of Colombia's GDP of $87 billion.
The government fears that the system could collapse if the 500,000
Colombians closing in on retirement enter the pension program as it
currently stands. The program's deficit has added a steep burden to
federal accounts already strained as the country's war against leftist
rebels enters its 37th year, hurting industry and sparking capital flight.
The conflict has claimed 40,000 mainly civilian lives in the past decade.
Reform to raise retirement age
Currently, about 8.5 million workers are enrolled in the pension program,
which was revamped in 1993 to allow six private sector funds manage public
pensions. Women reaching 55 years, and men at 60 years, can enter the
program and receive an average of 13.5 percent of their salaries.
Life expectancy in Colombia is 70 years.
The government's proposal, while still murky, would raise the minimum age
needed to retire, hike the number of contributing workers and reduce the
unusually high pensions benefits doled out to most of the 700,000 state
workers, who range from army troops to college professors.
Unions have fiercely opposed any cut in pension benefits, and many
analysts believe Pastrana's proposal may not be passed before he leaves
office next year -- especially given the arduous battle to reform pensions
elsewhere in Latin America. Pastrana is expected to present the reform
package before Congress sometime in 2001.
Leaders from Colombia's powerful oil workers' union have vowed to fight
against pension reform, stipulated by the International Monetary Fund as
part of a $2.7 billion bailout loan agreement signed in 1999.
Meanwhile, divisions exist within the government itself. Colombia's
outgoing Labor Minister Angelino Garzon opposes the IMF fiscal reforms and
says Colombia must do more for the millions of workers who do not benefit
from state pensions.
Garzon, who resigned on April 3 but will remain in office until Pastrana
taps a successor, estimates about 10 million Colombians -- or 25 percent
of the country -- don't have health insurance and are not enrolled in the
pension program.
Copyright 2001 Reuters
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