Pensions in Atlantica

Pensions in Atlantica are a tripartite system of social pensions, union-controlled, corporate-funded pension funds, and mandatory superannuation contributions from employees. Generally considered to be the most generous in the world, the Atlantican government grants a retirement age of 55 (the lowest in the world) to all workers, with a retirement age even younger for those working in industries such as chemical industries that are generally considered to significantly reduce the lifespan of workers, and Atlantican pensions are highly generous, with the Government granting a minimum stipend of $2000 a month (on top of the basic income of $800 a month granted to all Atlantican citizens over the age of 16), and the union-controlled, corporate-funded pension funds and mandatory superannuation contributions from employees also being just as, if not more, generous of benefits as the social pension.

The first mandatory pensions in Atlantica were created in 1907 via the Mandatory Pensions Act of 1907 by the government of Guðmund Geirsson, which created a small social pensions system to all citizens over the age of 60, but the MPA was repealed by that same government in 1920 as part of Austerity measures to curb the budget deficit. This measure proved highly unpopular, and the government of Gunnar Ólafursson pledged to reinstate the MPA while at the same time making it significantly more generous, which it did following its election in 1925 with the enactment of the Mandatory Pension Reinstatement Act of 1925, which established the current retirement age of 55, all the while making the minimum monthly stipends significantly more generous than the original pensions of the MPA. The MPRA and the social pension it established has remained in place since then, although it’s minimum stipend has significantly changed to adjust for inflation (already built in to the MPRA during its enactment) and economic growth (changed via several amendments to the MPRA since then).

Corporate-funded, union-controlled pensions were first initially informally created as part of collective bargaining agreement in the late 1920s and early 1930s are a small add-on to the social pension system, but, with higher and higher economic growth, especially after the Template:SGWE, and stronger and stronger unions, the corporate-funded, union-controlled pensions were gradually expanded in both size and scope until they became a standard throughout Atlantica, and the Pensions Act of 1962 required that all corporate-funded pensions be immediately given to union-controlled pension funds, with the funds democratically managed by boards elected by union members under one person, one vote; this had been a standard throughout Atlantica since the early 1950s, but were nonetheless enshrined by this law.

These pensions are universally funded entirely by corporations, as agreed to by national collective bargaining agreements between the four major Atlantican labour unions (the Atlantican Federation of Labour, Revolutionary Confederation of Labour, Atlanticanist Confederation of Labour, and Atlantican Alliance of Workers) and the Atlantican Employer Federation, the dominant employer union in Atlantica; the size of the corporate contributions to pension funds are a major issue of collective bargaining between the labour unions and the employer unions. As the pension funds are controlled by unions, they are a powerful bargaining tool by the labour unions, as labour unions can either buy enough shares to control the management of a corporation (especially easy when considering Atlantica’s codetermination policies), or strategically “reward” companies more amicable to their demands by buying shares in those companies, or “punish” companies more hostile to labour unions by causing declines in stock prices via selling all pension fund shares in those companies.

Superannuation in Atlantica is the newest of the three pensions for Atlantican workers, and was first created in 1996 via the Superannuation Act of 1996, and initially required Atlantican workers to contribute at a minimum, 5% of their annual income to the Pension Fund of Atlantica, not as part of a union-controlled pension fund, although workers may choose to move their investments to the pension fund of their own union (or a member-controlled credit union-esque mutual fund) if they so wish. Superannuation distributes by far the least amount to Atlantican pensioners, and is highly controversial within Atlantica as it is perceived as being designed to reduce workers' wages, and grant an unfair advantage to the wealthy in retirement by having those with higher incomes be granted additional retirement income by the government; however, the Superannuation Act of 2004 instead changed the mandatory contributions to be the burden of employers, rather than employees, although employees still have the ability to choose which pension fund they wish to place their investments into. Nonetheless, superannuation has still come under significant fire for granting an unfair advantage to the wealthy.