This is an amendment to the Law on the State Pension System, drafted by the National Confederation of Trade Unions of Moldova (NCPM). The project is aimed at improving the mechanism of pensions and ensuring greater fairness in this area.
Among the proposals is the inclusion in the insurance record of periods of child care by grandmothers or other relatives, as well as maternity and paternity leaves. In addition, it is proposed to grant the right to an early pension to women who have given birth to and raised three or more children.
“Currently, the current legislation provides for the upbringing of five or more children up to the age of 8, but we are convinced that the birth and upbringing of even one child is already a feat, let alone two or three,” the unions note.
It is also proposed to introduce a social payment for all elderly people when they reach retirement age and to abolish the mandatory insurance record of 34 years for workers employed in special working conditions.
“We are talking about work in particularly harmful conditions, such as, for example, stone mines, where, whether we like it or not, no matter what measures are taken and no matter what investments are made, harmful working conditions will still persist. This also applies to nuclear medicine. There are not so many of these areas, and there are not so many people who could benefit from such pensions,” said Mr. Sergiu Sainciuc, Deputy Chairman of the NCPM.
As a result of the meeting of the National Commission for Consultation and Collective Bargaining, it was decided that the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection will create a working group with the participation of representatives of trade unions, employers, the National Social Insurance Fund and other stakeholders to consider the proposed changes.
Inspectors uncovered thousands of violations
The commission also analyzed the situation in the field of labor protection and workers’ health based on the report of the Trade Union Labor Inspectorate for 2025. According to the report, inspectors conducted inspections in 164 organizations with a total of 4,669 employees, finding 3,652 violations of the law, about 92% of which relate to health and safety. The most frequent violations concerned the lack of necessary documentation, occupational risk assessment, insufficient training of workers, as well as the lack of financial resources in budgetary institutions for the implementation of protection measures.
Also, the commission took note of the information provided by the National Confederation of Trade Unions of Moldova on the proposal to start the ratification procedure of the International Labor Organization Convention on Social Security Minimum Standards.
The Convention establishes minimum standards for nine areas of social protection: medical care, sickness benefits, unemployment benefits, retirement pensions, payments in case of industrial accidents and occupational diseases, family benefits, maternity benefits, disability payments and survivors’ benefits.
The document has already been ratified by 67 member states of the International Labor Organization, including the countries of the region: Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.
