Survey on Social Dialogue and Pension Reform in Times of Crisis and Beyond: Slovenia.

Survey on Social Dialogue and Pension Reform in Times of Crisis and Beyond: Slovenia.

Guardiancich, I. (2012). ILO Survey on Social Dialogue and Pension Reform in Times of Crisis and Beyond: Slovenia. Working Paper No. 39. Geneva: International Labour Organization.

This paper examines the political economy of pension reforms in times of economic crisis and its impact on social dialogue and tripartite institutions in Slovenia. It has been prepared in the framework of the research project carried out by the ILO Industrial and Employment Relations Department and the Social Security Department, focusing on the issue of social dialogue and social security governance. Indeed, amongst all the topics addressed in the world of work, none, perhaps, reflect the principles of tripartism and social dialogue better than social security. Igor Guardiancich explains that the Slovenian economy was badly hit by the global economic and financial crisis of 2008-2009, which was the worst crisis experienced by the country since the break-up of the former Yugoslavia. This crisis, combined with the pressure of financial markets and international institutions forced the government to initiate several reforms, including changes to the pension system. The government proposed a comprehensive restructuring of both statutory public as well as supplementary private (voluntary and mandatory) schemes, an agenda which was highly ambitious. Although Slovenia has a long tradition of social dialogue built during its transition from socialism to a market economy, it was impacted by the crisis in ways that were not foreseen. Despite a promising beginning – proposals for the modernization of the Slovenian pensions system were presented to the tripartite members of the Economic and Social Council, and several rounds of negotiations took place between the government and social partners within this tripartite forum – external pressures (both from the EC and financial markets) led the government to accelerate drastically the reform agenda in order to restore the sustainability of the pension system. It presented the resulting reform proposals to the National Assembly in haste and without the consent of either the unions or the employers’ organizations. The result was an effective breakdown of social dialogue in Slovenia, thus compromising the constructive relationship between government and the social partners built over the last 20 years. This in turn exposed a degree of weakness in the relationship between the tripartite partners – the government, the unions and the employers – who, being badly affected by the crisis, were unable to reach an agreement despite two decades of successful social dialogue in the country. As of 2012, the problems of the Slovenian pension system remain unsolved. Nevertheless, most actors favour the resumption of constructive social partnership which is, given the institutional and sociopolitical characteristics of the ex-Yugoslav republic, certainly the only sustainable option.

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