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December 5th, 2008
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Mining union pushes back against rise in retirement age

May 28th, 2008 issue

By Claire Compton

ČTK
A quiet moment between detonations at the Rožná uranium mine. A recent study found the average miner's life span to be 58 years.
Staff Writer
Living to the age of 65 isn’t a guarantee for everyone. But few professions have historically had a more difficult time reaching that milestone than miners.
The government’s pension reforms, which would push the age of retirement to 65, are facing opposition from sectors where riskier and physically demanding work conditions mean careers are often much shorter.
The Czech Trade Union of Workers in the Mining, Geology and Oil Industry (OS-PHGN) is calling for the state to adopt pensions differentiated by profession, putting the retirement age for the mining industry employees at 55. The reforms, championed by the Civic Democrats (ODS), would also extend the mandatory contribution period from 25 to 35 years, a time span the union said is unrealistic for miners.
The current age of retirement for men in the Czech Republic is 62 years old; for childless women it is 60 years and four months, while mothers’ retirement is based on the number of children they have had. An aging population means reforms are necessary to avoid bankrupting the system, according to the ODS.
Historically, the age of retirement for miners was 50, according to OS-PHGN Deputy Chairman František Nekola. “Fifty-five is still acceptable,” he said, but he stressed that was the limit the union could accept.
The union’s argument is bolstered by what they cite as the pension age of miners in neighboring countries and a study that estimates the average life span of a Polish miner to be 58 years, Nekola said.
Hungary and Poland cap time underground at 25 years and Germany allows earlier retirement for black coal workers as opposed to brown coal. Based on the proximity and matching conditions of the two countries’ industries, Nekola said the union is accepting the Polish figure as an accurate one for Czech miners.
“The conditions and situation [in Poland] are basically the same as for our miners ... so we are proceeding on the assumption that the situation here is very similar,” he said.
The Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions (ČMKOS), the country’s largest umbrella labor organization, is holding a series of demonstrations outside the Government Office Building to protest the reforms. The first, held May 21, protested the healthcare reform. The union was set to protest the pension reforms May 28.
The Labor and Social Affairs Ministry, which is spearheading the reforms, did not respond to repeated inquiries about the miners’ requests.
The OS-PHGN, a member of the ČMKOS, will not be holding its own strike but will support the ČMKOS’ planned hour-long strike June 24, Nekola said.
Grandfathered miners
OKD, the largest Czech black coal mining company, employs 10,000 miners directly as well as an additional 3,500 employees through subcontractors, said spokesman Vladislav Sobol.
Of those employees, Sobol said the average age of the miners is between 40 and 45 years, and the oldest miner employed by OKD is 62 years old. While technology has meant an increase in safety measures for miners, Sobol said that risks remain. Even without debilitating injuries or accidents, the daily stress of the job means it is unlikely a miner could work the required 35 years, until the age of 65, to collect a pension.
“Working deep underground for several hours per day requires a lot of dedication and high levels of discipline as the miners are often exposed to high-risk situations, including the risk of accidents and health-related problems,” Sobol said.
Miners who continue working into their late 50s and 60s are the exception rather than the rule, said Nekola, as workers must spend hours underground carrying supplies in extreme temperatures and humidity, often with little light and in a crampt space. Long-term effects can include ionic radiation and respiratory ailments.
“People over 55 are exceptions,” he said. “So if we’re talking 65, that’s not possible. It is not possible that miners do this kind of work at 65.”
The miners’ union delivered a petition to the Chamber of Deputies in March signed by 14,000 people. The petition calls for retirement caps at 55 for not only miners but also metallurgists and other high-risk occupations.
Complicating the dialogue are the older generations of miners who began their careers under more stressful conditions, without the benefit of technology and safety measures that have developed recently. Nekola said there is an expectation that there will be a grandfather clause in any reform.
“We have started to negotiate with [Labor and Social Affairs Minister] Petr Nečas, and he promised he would take into account that some workers started under different conditions before 1992,” Nekola said. “So this would be reflected in the retirement age limits for them.”
Nekola said the petition sets the goals the union hopes to achieve, but the members will re-examine its progress at a June 25 meeting.
Claire Compton can be reached at ccompton@praguepost.com


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