Agustín Selfa, a worker with a career spanning nearly five decades, voiced his frustration over the conditions of his retirement in a testimony shared with the platform ASJUBI40. He questioned the Social Security criteria, arguing that those with long contribution histories, including cases like his where mandatory military service interrupted his career, are unfairly penalized after being “pushed out of the labor market.”
Selfa’s story takes us through various stages: from starting work at age 15 in 1965 to closing his own company, Cariso 21 SL, in 2012. He says he faced bureaucratic hurdles in getting his years of work recognized.
Frustrated, he points out periods the system doesn’t count, such as two years as a councilor for the Socialist Party, where he paid taxes and contributions, but Social Security refused to acknowledge them. He also describes a decade when he simultaneously worked under the general regime and as self-employed: “For 10 years I was paying contributions twice… and later the Social Security would not recognize them.”
The most striking part of Selfa’s statement comes when he discusses retiring at age 63. He claims Social Security applied reduction coefficients that severely cut his income. “I did a self-calculation of my pension, and they penalized me, so I ended up receiving 24% less,” he said, insisting that the system does not reflect the true extent of his effort, despite recent pension updates.
“I have 47 years of contributions to Social Security and another 12 years that they refused to recognize. In total, 47 plus 12 would be 59 years of contributions… And currently, my pension is 810 euros,” he added.
Selfa concluded his story with a call to action for his fellow workers: “Thank you, comrades, I will keep fighting for my rights to be recognized,” he stated, reopening the debate on how demanding the pension system really is.
