Man, what else is this! Pensioners with work groups were hoping for a pension increase after a victory in Bistrița, but the Tulcea Tribunal slammed the brakes: it suspended the trials until the CCR rules. At the CCR, there are already 4,000 unjudged cases, so...
Man, what do you know! I was sitting quietly on the terrace with Fane, drinking a beer and talking about how hard it is to live on this pension, when I come across a news story that makes me flip my lid. Dude, total madness! Pensioners who worked in special or exceptional conditions - those with the groups, you know, the kind that turned your lungs to dust or your bones to mush - got another blow. And not from just anyone, but from the Tulcea Tribunal! After a pensioner won in Bistrița Năsăud, well, in Tulcea they said: "Hold on, let's see about that." And they suspended their trials until the CCR deigns to rule. I mean, until next year, until Easter, until when? Who knows!
Listen up, let me explain in my own words. According to Newsweek - yeah, I actually read it, because Mioara said "get a book or something" - the Tulcea Tribunal decided to suspend the judgment in some cases, I don't remember the numbers, but I got the gist: until the CCR rules on a constitutionality exception related to Article 85, paragraph 6 of Law no. 360/2023. What's that? Well, it's about the fact that, from September 1, 2024, the additional periods for work groups - 6 months for special conditions, 3 months for exceptional conditions - are no longer considered contributory service. I mean, you work like a horse in a toxic environment, but for your pension, only the basic years count, not the bonus. Is that justice, bro?
And here's how it stands: in Bistrița, a guy won and forced the Pension House to issue a new recalculation decision that values the additional period of 12 years and 6 months as contributory service. What does that mean? A pension increase of 627 lei! 627 lei, bro! That's a loaf of bread, a salami, a cozonac for the grandkids. But in Tulcea, the judges said: "No, no, no, let's wait and see what the Constitutional Court says." And now, pension expert Sorin Nemeș confirms that the trials are temporarily stopped. Temporarily? When? Well, at the CCR, there are already about 4,000 cases with constitutionality exceptions on the new pension law, and none have been judged yet! So "temporarily" could mean years, man. Years during which pensioners sit and wait, and their pension freezes at a few hundred lei.
Man, I've been through it with Mioara too: when I heard about the price hikes, I said "come on, maybe mom's pension will increase," but now I see the system is playing tricks on us. And it's not our fault, us regular Romanians, but this bureaucracy that stretches like gum. How can you have 4,000 cases at the CCR and not judge a single one? Eh, mister, that's how it is here: when it comes to money, everyone pretends not to know, but when it comes to taxes, they move fast.
So, pensioners with work groups, I totally get you. I have an uncle who worked 30 years at a thermal power plant, with coal, dust, noise - and now he barely gets by. And what can he do? Wait? Well, if you wait, you starve. Let's see what comes out of this. Until then, I'm going to tell Mioara to tighten the budget, because from mom's pension, I don't think anything will increase anytime soon.
