Teachers win pension battle

The government has come to an agreement with left-wing parties on early retirement benefits for teachers. The plan has also been accepted by Poland's largest teacher's union, ZNP.

The compromise creates an 11-year transition period (2013-2024) during which teachers who retire early will receive not less than a minimum retirement pension from the government and not more than 80 percent of their own pension. The early retirement age now stands at 55, but this will gradually be raised to 65 for men and 60 for women starting in 2010 for men and 2015 for women.

"We want to create a temporary transitional mechanism leading to a regular pension, but only for this narrow group of teachers," Civic Platform's Zbigniew Chlebowski explained during a press conference.

The agreement would enable teachers born before 1969 to retire after 20 years of teaching, but these people would then be forbidden to take another teaching job before reaching normal retirement age. According to Chlebowski, the project will cost the state zł.4 billion and apply to about 100,000 teachers. The "bridging pensions" will be paid from the budget, rather than by the Social Insurance Institution.

Teachers were originally supposed to be one of several professional groups excluded from bridging pensions. This changed following protests from teachers and a rift between parties in the government coalition.

"We consider the current proposition [a sign of] the government finally opening up to teachers," said ZNP leader Sławomir Broniarz.

The proposal will now be voted on in Parliament and is expected to be implemented by the end of the year, when the previous bill concerning bridge pensions expires. The governing coalition, together with left-wing parties, will have the votes needed to override a possible presidential veto.