The construction pension plan is already the largest in Spain in terms of the number of workers saving for their retirement. In nine months since contributions to the fund began last February, this collective plan managed by VidaCaixa had 570,000 participants at the end of October and surpassed the other two large public employment plans: that of State officials. , with 487,000 participants, and that of the Catalan Generalitat, with 359,000 savers at the quarterly close of September, according to Inverco.
Employment plans are going on the way to certifying a record and unprecedented year in two decades. The boost is due to the fact that almost 60,000 construction companies are already part of the sector plan. Along with them and after the sector initiative, several dozen plans created for the self-employed and professional sectors have cascaded through associations, organizations or professional associations. So, has caused a net increase of 621,000 participants until the third quarter. It surpasses the ‘golden year’ for social security of the second pillar, 2004, when the promotion of employment plans for civil servants caused an increase of almost 600,000 savers.
This pension plan was born after the redesign of complementary savings made by former minister José Luis Escrivá during the last legislature. With the fiscal limits of individual plans reduced, Collective bargaining now has more weight to develop macroplans like the construction pioneerwhich is designed to incorporate one million salaried and self-employed workers, as well as tens of thousands of companies, explains Antonio Méndez Baiges, a Mercer lawyer and member of Ocopen who designed the plan’s regulations.
The launch of this plan was an “extraordinary milestone”, explained from UGT FICA. This optimism is also perceived by the sector’s employers’ association, the National Construction Confederation (CNC): “a success for the Construction Labor Foundation.” Business sources affirm that the pace at which workers have been incorporated into the collective pot has exceeded expectations. “It is resolving the enrollment and administration issues well despite their volume and complexity,” considers Méndez Baiges.
The plan started on February 1 of this year, and during that month the part of the salary increase allocated to the plan was included in the plan with retroactive effects, from 2022, when the collective agreement was signed. Although the contributions taken from the salary increase are moderate, from UGT FICA they open the door to improving contributions during the coming years Since the percentage currently allocated represents, on average, about 360 euros per worker per year, which seems scarce.
He fund has assets of 122 million managed by the Catalan entity VidaCaixa at the end of October, “given its number of participants, it is an important asset,” considers Méndez Baiges. The CNC also aspires to be the largest plan in Spain in terms of assets in the medium or long term.
The challenge of activating savings
That of State officials, which until a few months ago was larger, has consolidated rights close to 600 million, but it is stranded in the middle of nowhere since the financial crisis and the subsequent debt crisis will force Spain to apply cuts . Salary increases for civil servants were suppressed, just as the Administrations stopped contributing to the benefit of public employees. Similar happens with the workers of the Generalitat and associates, which has 359,000 participants within a ‘ghost plan’. Both They are nourished by the few voluntary contributions of employees, but they receive nothing from public entities.
Construction still has a way to go and challenges to resolve. The most important thing today is get the plan to catch on among companies and workers who are not yet partaware that it is a very fragmented sector, with a high number of companies, many of them SMEs and many other self-employed workers that make up the business fabric. Although the collective agreement obliges all companies to be part of the plan and incorporate workers automatically, There is a certain percentage that is not entering the plan for various reasons. The monitoring carried out by the sector through surveys of firms.
Of the companies that are not yet part of the plan, a third do not want to enter directly, even exposing themselves to sanctions for breaching the collective agreement which could lead to non-payment of the part of your workers’ salary that should go to the piggy bank. Another third of the companies are unaware of the plan, which is why behind it there is an informative effort so that these companies join the plan. And they end up signing up, the employers explain. Likewise, another third are inactive companies or with financial problems that make it difficult for them to access the plan. Even an undetermined number do not want to make contributions to VidaCaixa, which is the sole manager of the plan.
It can also be a tool to attract workers to a sector that is experiencing a strong aging of its workforce. “We trust that it will serve as an incentive for the sector to attract labor that will rejuvenate and diversify it, and help alleviate the employment deficit it currently suffers,” they say from UGT FICA.
The Government and the financial sector are confident that construction will make way for the rest of the sectors and savings will be activated. “We are very satisfied with the performance of the plan in construction and we hope that it will be expanded to other sectors,” they say from Social Security.
There are several interested parties, the most advanced being metal, as elEconomista.es has been reporting. But it is an extensive process, lasting at least three years, that requires the development of a collective agreement, a plan regulation or the election of a manager. Other experts agree in pointing out the public sector, which should set an example by reactivating its plans with the ambitious objective of the second pillar adding 10 million covered workers.
LinkedinBeloud
#construction #pension #plan #leader #Spain #participants #months
