Last week Shell workers went on strike to keep their retirement rights. It did not take long for Shell to cave in (link in Dutch) under the threat of closing down production at the refineries at Pernis, “Europe’s largest”.
The unions fought to keep the retirement age for current employees at 60 as well as to force the company to keep paying the entire pension premiums. In the new agreement with Shell, they have largely though not entirely gotten what they wanted. For current employees, retirement age will stay at 60, but the official retirement age will still become 65. To bridge the gap between 60 and 65, there’s the “levensloopregeling”, which is a new savingsplan introduced by the Dutch government this year, through which you can save up part of your wages before taxes to either take early retirement or unpaid leave, with wage taxes defered to the moment you actual start using the fund. Shell has now pledged to annually pay 6.5 % of each worker’s income into this fund, instead of the 3 % it had first offered. By trading in two vacation days, each employee can add another 1.5 % annually as well. However, the Shell workers will have to start contributing to their retirement funds: 2/5 of their wages.
So, a victory for the Shell strikers? Or could more have been achieved with a more hardline attitude?