Thousands of protesters walk the streets of the center of the capital to demand the end of the gender gap in salaries and pensions and a revaluation according to the real CPI
Pensioners maintain pressure on the Government despite the decision to incorporate into the General State Budgets (PGE) an estimate of the revaluation of pensions of 8.5% for the next year according to the CPI.
Different associations and movements of this group from numerous autonomous communities met this Saturday in Madrid to demand the recovery of the purchasing power of pensions, and that the rise be made in accordance with the general CPI planned with a compensatory payment at the end of the year.
In addition, they demand to end the gender gap in salaries and other benefits. “The misery pensions have a woman’s face,” read one of the main banners that have traveled through the center of the capital.
Among their demands, which they plan to extend in a hot autumn for the Executive, there is also that of demanding that the minimum pension be equal to the Minimum Interprofessional Salary (currently, 1,000 euros per month), as well as that early voluntary retirement is not penalized.
The protest, which started at noon in the Plaza de Neptuno to end in Callao, is the first step in a general mobilization that the organizers plan to carry out in November in the towns and communities.
Among the different convening platforms are organizations of pensioners from Galicia, Andalusia, Extremadura, the Basque Country and Madrid, as well as the State Coordinator for the Defense of the Public Pension System (Coespe), the Association for Early Retirement without Penalizing (Asjubi40) and the General Confederation of Labor (CGT).
“We will continue in the street until we reverse the counter-reforms that are being imposed on us, end the gender gap in salaries and pensions, eliminate the penalty for early pensions with long contribution careers, recover the rights lost in the successive labor and pension reforms. , generate an equitable distribution of wealth and improve and guarantee universal and quality public and community services”, warn the organizers.
However, and as stated in the project of the General State Budgets (PGE), pensions will rise by 8.5% in 2023 when applying the rule that links their revaluation to the CPI. It must be borne in mind that this figure is subject to the final inflation data for November, which is the one used to calculate the annual average. But the rise will be around that percentage for all pensions.
According to initial estimates, next year the State will allocate 190,687 million euros to the payment of these benefits, about 42% of the entire budget. This is a historical percentage after an extra payment of almost 19,550 million euros compared to 2022. However, this expense is not only due to the greater revaluation, but also due to the incorporation of new pensioners into the system.
Given this situation, the Government defends that there is room to apply its policy in this segment. In fact, as anticipated by the Executive, the Social Security deficit will be reduced this year to 0.5%. And the forecast is that it will remain in that line in 2023 thanks to the higher collection due to the good performance of employment. In addition, the State plans to increase its current transfers to the Ministry of Inclusion and Social Security by some 2,540 million euros to cover the increase in contributory and non-contributory pensions and the provision for child care.
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