WILLEMSTAD - Civil servants who want to retire earlier had to wait a long time, but yesterday the National Ordinance Early Voluntary Retirement (VVU) was nevertheless adopted in Parliament.
The retirement age was raised in Curaçao in 2016. A group of civil servants then indicated that they did not want to wait for their retirement age, but rather that they wanted to stop. They did not leave then because it was financially very unfavorable. Among other things, they had to pay social security contributions themselves until their 65th birthday.
These officials therefore remained, but were a demotivating factor in the organizations. It concerns a group of 600 civil servants in total who have been wanting to leave since 2016. A total of 788 civil servants were eligible for the early retirement.
The civil servants' unions and the government finally signed a covenant in November 2020 in which early retirement against a package of conditions was laid down. This includes a one-off lump sum payment and a monthly payment up to the actual pension of the civil servant at the age of 65. The aim was that the VVU Act would be enacted in Parliament in December and would take effect on January 1, 2021. The law has now been passed on May 25, a further 5 months delay.
Enabling early retirement is one of the government's measures to reduce government costs. That is one of the conditions for eligibility for financial aid from the Netherlands.
The minister responsible for government service, Armin Konket himself said he could not say anything about whether Curaçao has too many civil servants. He is still waiting for figures from an analysis made in the context of the National Package. The National Package also includes a plan to increase the motivation and productivity of civil servants.