Women's retirement age as a question of fate - also for the middle

Should women continue to retire at 64 or also work until 65? The commoners want this increase as a savings contribution to the AHV. Leftists and trade unions are fighting back.

Social issues and women's concerns are fundamental issues, especially for the political left. She launched her campaign against raising the retirement age for women with a large political contingent. Also present: SP co-president Mattea Meyer.

“Today we have a pension situation for many women in this country that is miserable. Every fourth has only the AHV and every second has a pension of fewer than 3000 francs, including the second pillar,” she says. "There is an improvement in pensions, certainly not a reduction in pensions."

The basic meaning of the template

"It is undoubtedly the most important vote in this legislature," says political expert Claude Longchamp. But although it is about classic left-wing issues, it is less a vote of fate for the SP and the unions, and more for the competition in the middle.

"The merger with the BDP didn't get off to a flying start, and that's why it's an opportunity for the Mitte party to make a name for itself a year before the elections. To say: Thanks to us, there is the possibility that there will be political compromises that are sustainable, said Longchamp. “And that would actually be the starting signal for the election year, for the middle. For them, it's probably a question of fate."

The center shaped this template, and now they want to prove that such bourgeois projects are also well received by the people. For the middle, it is a question of principle as to whether, as a political force, it can make the difference. However, party president Gerhard Pfister does not want to hang the bill up too high. “It has a special meaning because the dossier is incredibly important. But I think it would be presumptuous to derive a special meaning from it in terms of party politics.

But he also says: “I am convinced that the center has succeeded in crafting a majority-capable template and that it is now a matter of convincing the people for two or three months. The people want factual arguments, and we have enough of them with this bill."

The AHV must be renovated. It is time to raise the retirement age for women, and after all, a transitional generation will also receive a supplement, according to Pfister. As far as the political left is concerned, Longchamp says the bill isn't quite as fatefully important. But with a view to further templates that want to raise the retirement age even further, this vote is an important mood test.

If you lose, the course gets harder

"If the SP doesn't manage to show this more moderate version: Yes, we don't agree with that, because we have good arguments, then the course will definitely get harder again," believes Longchamp. "And for the SP, it will be even more of a challenge to make themselves heard."

The SP and the unions know that too. They also place the template in this larger context. This also includes the currently high inflation. In this environment, it is wrong to increase VAT as planned to restructure the AHV, says SGB President Pierre-Yves Maillard. He sometimes thinks that the majority in Parliament lives in a different reality. "It's not possible to keep taking more money from people and giving less and fewer services."