The construction industry is asking for early retirement with the new road and is demanding it for one million workers.

On May 27, the government took a long-awaited step for workers in the most demanding sectors, those involving great physical effort or exposure to hazardous substances. The Council of Ministers approved a new approach to early retirement in the most demanding professions in these sectors, a new procedure that takes into account deaths, sick leave, and the length of their stay in each position. The most representative construction unions, CCOO and UGT, filed a request this Wednesday for Social Security to review their case, placing bricklayers, formworkers, and laborers on the starting line to access this new right. They do so without employer support, as the main business association denounces the additional cost in contributions that this new instrument would entail, despite the fact that it stems from an agreement signed by CEOE and Cepyme.

"The nature of the work carried out by these professionals is not only physically demanding with high work rates, but also exceptionally arduous, toxic, dangerous, or unhealthy," the unions explain in a letter addressed to the Directorate General for Social Security Regulation, to which EL PAÍS has had access. "This," say CCOO and UGT regarding this arduousness, "means that construction workers suffer morbidity and mortality rates far higher than those in other sectors."

Official data on workplace accidents support this claim: last year, 135 people died on construction sites, and there were another 929 serious accidents and 80,633 minor ones. Transport and warehousing alone, due to truck driver accidents, saw more deaths in 2024. According to the incidence rate, which relates the number of people employed in the sector to the number of deaths, there are even more deaths than in construction (9.6%), agriculture (9.7%), energy supply (10%), transport (12.6), and mining (27.7).

Miners—like seafarers and most regional police officers—have enjoyed the so-called reduction coefficients for years, the instrument that bricklayers hope to achieve. This means that each year of contributions in a demanding job counts as a longer period, so that the ordinary retirement age for these professionals arrives earlier and without any penalty to their final pension. According to the new procedure, the minimum age at which early retirement can be reached is 52.

“We're asking for it for the most dangerous jobs because it's fair. The numbers on people who die on construction sites are incontestable, and it's clearly proven that the older you are, the more likely you are to suffer a serious or fatal accident. There's no dispute. We're the first sector to request it,” says Daniel Barragán, head of the CC OO (Hábitat Workers' Commissions). Sergio Estela, head of the construction department at the UGT (General Confederation of Workers' Unions), agrees: “It's unacceptable for a 60-year-old to be on scaffolding.” He emphasizes that early retirement in the sector would “rejuvenate” the industry and “give it a boost it's lacking,” since “there are many people who would be encouraged to enter if they know they'll be able to retire earlier.” Both unions gathered around 400 people in May at the Ministry of Social Security to demand the coefficients for the sector.

71% of workers

Elma Saiz's ministry has been working hard to lower expectations regarding this measure. It makes it very clear that it will not apply to entire sectors, but will only apply to the most demanding activities, provided that the hardship cannot be offset by adaptation measures.

The construction unions are not demanding the coefficients for the entire sector, but rather for the majority of the sector. They are demanding them for 1.05 million workers, based on the average number of workers in the 2024 Labor Force Survey. This represents 71% of the sector's workers, according to the two unions' request. Among the largest groups are bricklayers, stonemasons, cutters, laborers, and stone engravers (335,160 employees), construction and mining laborers (129,582), construction electricians and related workers (125,232), and painters, wallpaperers, and related workers (74,354).

The ministry's caution is reflected in a pension system under enormous pressure, with increasingly higher benefits (due to the better salaries of those retiring and the recovery of the CPI's appreciation) and more numerous benefits (due to the retirement of the baby boomers ). Hence, the regulation establishes that the impact of the coefficients must be neutral, that is, that there must be sufficient over-contribution to offset the increase resulting from these individuals' early retirement. The bulk of this additional financial effort will fall on employers.

This additional labor cost is what justifies the rejection by the National Construction Confederation. Its president, Pedro Fernández Alén, says the measure entails "an increase in costs" that is "complicated to assume." But, at the same time, it leaves the door open for negotiation. When asked directly whether they plan to support the initiative, he replies: "We can't say yes or no. We have to see it, always sitting down to analyze it with the unions." The unions counter that the increased cost of contributions will compensate employers, given the expected reduction in temporary disability. Fernández Alén says the coefficients should be "extremely surgical," so that they apply to very specific occupations, and that he wants to know the opinion of Social Security. "It's important to know their position on this matter," adds the president of the CNC.

After construction, other activities will demand the reduction coefficients . The only major sector in which there is an agreement between unions and employers to jointly request this is transportation. Unions representing the department stores, chambermaids, aircraft cabin crew, and baggage handlers have also expressed their intention to demand this new right.

Since May 27, the Government has had four months to form the group that will analyze each request and decide based on the aforementioned objective criteria. Once this team is established, it must respond within a maximum of six months from the date of registration.