Nursing activities are being upgraded in pension law. The SPÖ will make this concern a subject on Tuesday in the special session of the National Council it has requested. As MPs Christian Drobits and Josef Muchitsch stated Monday, health care activities in general should fall under the preferential regime for heavy workers. Nursing activities must also be recognized accordingly for disability pensions.
In principle, people who meet certain criteria can retire after the age of 60 with significantly lower deductions of 1.8 percent per year. Nursing professions are not explicitly mentioned, with the exception of the hospice sector. This means that the nursing staff can only achieve hard-working retiree status by consuming a lot of calories in their work or by working night shifts.
In addition, 540 insurance months (45 years) and ten years of work in taxing occupations in the past 20 years must be proven for the pension for heavy workers. Proof is often difficult, explains Robert Steier, lawyer for the vidabond. There are “very laborious evidence procedures”. Sometimes old schedules have to be checked at the crate to see if enough night shifts have been worked or you have to explain again what exactly you did in the operating room.
Recognize particularly stressful work
The SPÖ is now advocating to recognize the care of sick, dependent and disabled people as a particularly stressful activity in the Heavy Labor Regulation. In addition, to make it easier to meet the 540 months of insurance, training periods must be fully credited.
As a third essential point, the SPÖ states that many do not even make it to the age of 60 in working life because of the heavy work. In the case of an invalidity pension, the time of hard work should therefore have a deductible effect. For example, if someone retires at the age of 59, they will receive a deduction of up to 13.8 percent. In the case of the heavy work scheme from 60 years of age, however, this is a maximum of nine percent.
Waiting for reforms ‘taking too long’
The special session on Tuesday should already be pressurized with motions for resolutions and legislation. At the same time, an online petition is already running, asking the population to support the demand.
Drobits said it was time to make changes now. Waiting for health care reform is taking too long. A corresponding new arrangement was also possible for the prison guards. Muchitsch referred to possibly about 160,000 affected people, 85 percent of whom are women.
Source: Krone
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