Spain's unions back government public pension reform

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spain's left-wing government won the backing of unions to reform the nation's public pension system on Wednesday, in stark contrast with neighboring France, where plans to raise the retirement age have led to waves of strikes and mass protests.

The leaders of Spain’s two main labor unions, UGT and CC.OO., appeared alongside Minister of Social Security José Luis Escrivá in Madrid to christen the plan the union heads both deemed “historic.”

CC.OO. secretary general Unai Sordo said that the reform would be key to ensuring pensions for Spain’s retired population which he said is expected to increase from 10 to 15 million people by 2048.

“This is about maintaining a pillar of our social welfare system,” Sordo said.

It is very different across the border in France, where labor unions on Wednesday held another round of massive street protests against the push by President Emmanuel Macron to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64, a move that he says is necessary to sustain public pensions for the future.

Spain, whose workers already must stay on the job until at least age 65 years, won’t be asked to work longer. Instead, the new deal signed off on by its unions will aim to handle a looming boom in the number of retired workers by increasing the social security costs on businesses for higher-wage earners.

Spain has one of Europe’s fastest ageing populations and one of its highest rates of youth unemployment at around 30% — a cocktail that made tweaking its pension system a must.

A reform of Spain’s social security system was one of the requirements established by the European Union for Spain to continue receiving billions of euros from its post-pandemic recovery funds. Escrivá won approval from Brussels to go ahead with the plan last week.

“I want to...