Trade union hands in early retirement petition

The KOVO trade union handed a petition to Parliamentary Chairman Andrej Danko (Slovak National Party/SNS) on Tuesday, calling for a cut in the retirement age for people performing hazardous or strenuous work. 126,015 signatures were collected, exceeding the minimum needed for Parliament to act on motions from citizens. "People don't know when they'll retire, so we want to set a cap for the retirement age at 64 years. It would be one of the lowest ceilings within Europe but at the same time we also want to introduce pre-retirement," said KOVO chief Emil Machyna. The petition aims to change the current pension system, in particular to halt the extension of the retirement age and to create the possibility of early retirement without reducing the amount of the pension given to retirees.