Here, almost everyone takes early retirement – Dagsavisen

– Worn knees, surgery on the shoulders and a rattled lower back. I thank good basic training for keeping the body together. You can sit in an office until you’re 90, but you can’t do that on a workshop floor, says Tom Rune Riis (61).

40 years of workshop work have left their mark. The 61-year-old at Mantena’s workshop in Grorud has already handed in his resignation and will leave AFP when he turns 62.

– I could probably have worked longer, but I want to retire while it is still possible to use my body. After all, I have worked for 44 years when I retire, says Riis.

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Joint pain

He is supported by Odd Vidar Tenold (62). He is satisfied that the majority in the Storting has agreed on an addition to those who are exhausted after a long working life, and who must retire earlier than the life expectancy adjustment suggests.

Tenold already has 40 years in his professional life, most of which he has worked with heavy train parts, and was able to retire from AFP in November last year.

He still intends to stay at work a little longer. Despite heavy safety shoes, hard concrete floors and sometimes physically demanding work, the body still keeps up.

– I have some problems with my joints, but it’s not so bad that I can’t work, he states.

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Early retirement or disability

Tenold is almost an exception. Most of the pensioners in the workshop workers’ association in Oslo have retired as soon as they have had the opportunity – such as AFP pensioners at the age of 62. A quarter of pensioner members did not make it that far.

They became disability pensioners.

– It doesn’t help to say that you live longer. The body still gets worn out after just over 40 years of physically heavy work, says Glenn Noss, leader of the Workshop Workers’ Association Oslo.

He is opposed to the life expectancy adjustment. Noss believes that life expectancy is only part of the picture. Because he and his colleagues very often start their working lives when they are around 20 years old.

In comparison, the average age of those graduating from a bachelor’s or master’s degree is five to six years older.

Noss believes that the Storting majority has agreed on something that they do not have a full overview of. He points out that there is still much that is uncertain about the hardship scheme.

– Adopting an increase in the retirement age before you know how the hardship scheme will look in practice is starting at the wrong end, states Noss.

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Strains on the body

And even though machines do more and more of the heavy lifting, a working day in the workshop wears on the body.

– A whole day in heavy safety shoes on a very hard concrete floor is noticeable. So do crawling on your knees, hammering with a sledgehammer and heavy lifting. That workers who have had a long working life, and who are unable to work until they reach retirement age, are ensured a dignified retirement should just be missing, says Noss.

In the decision from the Storting majority, it is stated that “A hardship scheme shall be established in the national insurance… The scheme shall contribute to securing the social perspective in the pension system…”

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Same opportunity

Riis is happy he has the opportunity to retire while he still has the physique to be somewhat active. He believes that it is important that future hard workers are given the opportunity to take their bodies into account as they approach retirement age.

– I think those who sit in the Storting and decide what the future pension will look like do not know what parts of working life are like. The fact that they have now agreed on a hardship supplement should only be missing, although I think it is too little, says Riis.

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The hardship scheme

• A hardship scheme will be established in the national insurance system, which will be introduced at the same time as the other changes in the pension system. The scheme will help to secure the social perspective in the pension system, and have a size that gives the individual who retires earlier than the life expectancy adjustment provides for, increased financial security.
• The scheme is to be established on the model of the hardship scheme in the private AFP and provides an annual supplement of 0.25 G for those who retire five years before the standard retirement age and is gradually scaled down at a higher retirement age. The parties must be involved in the design of the hardship scheme.

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