On Monday December 20, I, representative Inge de Vries, had a short meeting with representatives of FMO. The reason for the meeting was FMO's request for dispensation from the pension agreements in the collective labor agreement. In this way, FMO is anticipating the collective labor agreement negotiations and, incidentally, also the legislation.
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FMO's choices with regard to the new pension scheme were explained in the meeting. It has also been promised that they will send the proposed pension scheme to De Unie so that I can answer any questions from members.
Position of De Unie
I can share my findings with you based on this very global consultation. I may have to adjust things once I've really been able to study the documents.
The following topics stand out in FMO's proposal.
- FMO says that it will unilaterally change the pension scheme, my position is that it can only implement this radical change with the consent of the individual employees.
- FMO is moving to a flat premium scale of 20%. For new employees, a premium scale of 20% is too low, so you cannot accrue sufficient pension with the current interest rate and realistic return expectations. This may change in the future, but 20% is not enough now.
- For current employees, FMO is compensating for the decline in the pension scheme by promising an extra contribution. In addition, employees aged 55 and older receive additional compensation. In the conversation with FMO I indicated that I cannot assess whether this compensation is sufficient, in any case we see at other companies that employees aged 50 and older need additional compensation because otherwise they will deteriorate too much compared to their current pension scheme.
- FMO closes the current DB scheme and has these pension assets managed by the current insurer. Extra money is being deposited to guarantee indexation for the next 10 years. A reasonably good agreement has been made with this. However, if inflation remains this high, this will not prove to be enough.
- In the current pension scheme you have a commitment that you will receive a certain pension level when you retire. The pension insurer bears the risk in this regard. In the new pension scheme you are promised that a certain premium will be paid. Whether this is sufficient or not will become apparent on your retirement date. You bear the risk yourself if it turns out afterwards that insufficient capital has been built up. For this risk shift, De Unie usually an additional compensation. I cannot judge whether the risk shift is reasonably compensated.
Dispensation
FMO has an interest in a dispensation decision before the end of the year. I will discuss this with the other trade unions on Thursday 23 December 2021. I would like to hear your opinion on this so that I can take this into account in the decision-making process.
Questions
Do you have questions about this message? Would you like advice about the pension scheme? Then you can contact me by sending an email to: inge.de.vries@unie.nl
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