Scientists are redoubling the stress to keep away from having to pay as much as 17,000 euros to retire | Science | EUROtoday

The Spanish scientific neighborhood has redoubled stress on the Ministry of Social Security to rectify its choice to pressure researchers who want to recuperate, as years of contributions, the durations labored with precarious scholarships previously to pay round 290 euros per 30 days. The physicist Perla Wahnón, president of the Confederation of Scientific Societies of Spain (COSCE), met this afternoon with Minister Elma Saiz in a primary contact. According to the Ministry, “the minister has conveyed her personal commitment to review the order.”

The measure, introduced on April 30, implies that researchers must pay as much as 17,000 euros to the General Treasury of Social Security to recuperate a most of 5 years and have the ability to retire earlier than the age of 70. Hundreds of individuals affected, grouped on the platform Former Research and Teaching Scholars (ABID) think about their state of affairs “a historical injustice.” They report that they labored, particularly earlier than 2011, combining predoctoral and postdoctoral scholarships, with out the entities, primarily within the public sector, contributing to Social Security for them.

The COSCE, which represents 88 scientific societies and a few 40,000 researchers, has welcomed in an announcement the Ministry's willingness to introduce enhancements. “It is necessary to find a specific solution to recognize all the time worked as research fellows, since it is a different situation from training practices,” the group has confused. “It is a matter of social justice that our demands are addressed.”

Numerous scientists have been publishing their complaints on social networks for 2 weeks, resembling microbiologist Ignacio López Goñi, professor on the University of Navarra. “This is how science was done in Spain: we were not internship students, it was covert work without a contract and without paying into Social Security,” lament this Monday. The Science Law of 2011, permitted through the Government of the socialist José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, lastly modified analysis grants for contracts with contributions.

The affected platform has referred to as a focus for subsequent Saturday at midday, on the door of the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, in Madrid. The investigators demand “a fair special agreement” to switch the introduced situations, which they think about a “scam.” The endocrinologist Justo Castaño, professor on the University of Córdoba, is one other of these affected. “I was a predoctoral researcher between 1989 and 1993. This job was called being a scholarship holder, with almost no rights, no contributions. They ask that we pay what the State did not pay: It is unfair!” has criticized on social community X.

The Ministry has opened itself to introducing modifications and has taken the matter to the social dialogue desk with union and enterprise organizations, as reported on Monday by the Secretary of State for Social Security and Pensions, Borja Suárez. “What we are going to do is listen to everyone and, if necessary, take additional measures,” he declared. The affected demand eradicate the “arbitrary limit” of 5 years, an financial discount — the brand new settlement makes use of the minimal contribution base for retirement of the 2024 regime, as an alternative of utilizing the one in pressure within the 12 months of the scholarship — and never having to pay out of his pocket the employer's contribution that will have corresponded to the entities that benefited from their work with out contributing for them.

The Federation of Young Precarious Researchers was key within the struggle to transform scholarships into contracts. “For years, research staff at public universities and affiliated centers were carrying out teaching and research work without paying contributions, with all the consequences and precariousness that this implies. Among them, having zero days worked for different social benefits, such as retirement,” he stated in an announcement this Tuesday. “The exorbitant price that has been stipulated (290 euros per month) is unacceptable and, above all, that it is the workers themselves, instead of the financing organizations and institutions, who are responsible for these costs. We are talking about 17,000 euros to be able to access this right, currently guaranteed,” the federation denounced.

The biologist Marisol Soengas, president of the Spanish Cancer Research Association (ASEICA), explains that representatives of 10 different entities will meet on Friday with the Secretary of State Borja Suárez, at some point earlier than the focus referred to as on the door of the Ministry . ASEICA and three different organizations – the National Association of Hospital Researchers, the Spanish Society of Neuroscience and the Spanish Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology – demanded on May 6 the rectification of the ministerial order, which of their opinion “has unleashed anger among the scientific community.” Five different entities have since joined their protest: the Royal Spanish Society of Physics, the Spanish Society of Genetics, the Spanish Association of Astronomy, the General Council of Official Colleges of Biologists and the Spanish Society of Microbiology.

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