Poland: Protests against planned pension reform

The Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk from the targeted pension reform
meets resistance from unions and other interest groups. "If someone
with 15 years begins to work in the vocational school, then he has
worked with 65 well-not too little," said Piotr Duda, head of the
union "Solidarnosc", towards the media and threatened now with
demonstrations. Tusk wants to raise the retirement age for women and
men of 60 or 65 years to 67 years.

Tusk's government also proposed the declaration on Friday, no longer
boarding houses for a certain period of time proportional to the
development of the salaries are adjusted, the trade unions do not
consent. The prime minister wants to increase pensions for some years,
the only fixed amounts, which would reduce the gap between high and
low salary. "We can not punish those who have paid the high posts,"
said Jan Guz, head of the union OPZZ, told the newspaper
"Rzeczpospolita". Moreover, "no question" could be that the pension
reform has been digging in 2013, so Guz, since it needs to be
discussed only in society.

The Solidarity leader Duda holds demonstrations possible. "We've shown
that we can mobilize our members, although we do not really want to
talk with the government on the road," he said. With protests
threatened the representatives of the miners. "We can defend
ourselves," Kazimierz Grajacarek, Chairman of the Mining Section said
in the "Solidarity" to journalists. Tusk had said that only those who
are directly "involved in breaking" should, before you retire. Through
such a scheme would arise "two categories of miners who work
underground," said a representative of the workers in the copper
industry.

Tusk also announced talks with associations of lawyers and policemen.
Both professional groups will lose some pension privileges. For
example wool, the police unions assert that officers can continue to
go with 50, not, as suggested by Tusk with 55 years in retirement. So
far this is possible after 15 years of service with 35 years already.

Business organizations have criticized that the employer share of
pension contributions to rise by two percentage points. That could
lead to higher unemployment, said Marek Goliszewski, director of the
Association of BCC.

Tusk received praise for his announcements by economists, however. By
the arguments put forward measures could the Premier achieve its
desired goal, the national debt today 54 percent of the gross domestic
product to lower until the end of its term to 47 percent, said Piotr
Kalisz, chief economist at the Bank Citi Handlowy, the radio station
RMF FM. The reforms would have a positive impact on the
creditworthiness of Poland, according to a report by the rating agency
Moody's on Monday. "The key question is how the plans are
implemented," said Piotr Kowalski, director of rating agency Fitch in
Poland, the television station TVN.