Mr. Maurilio Rodríguez Ocampo is the oldest pensioner in the history of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) at the age of 110 years. Of which more than 20 of them work in the institution that he remembers today with gratitude and nostalgia, and from which he receives a pension for old age.
Meet the longest-serving former worker in the history of IMSS
In 1965 he began his institutional career as a gardener at the IMSS-Oaxtepec Vacation Center, just one year after its opening. Later he worked in the cleaning area at the Olympic Stadium and continued in pest control to eliminate mosquito hatchlings and poisonous animals in all the facilities.
Don Maurilio was born in 1911, he is originally from the town of San Pedro Chichila, in Taxco, Guerrero. As a child he lived in Yautepec, Morelos, a municipality to which his parents moved because they were farm workers and also sold coal.
He says that his childhood was difficult because it took place while the Mexican Revolution was taking place; neither could he have an educational preparation. So his first jobs were the sowing of cotton, beans, corn and potatoes. “Here I found my wife, I got married and all my children were born here,” he recalls.
Years later, he had the opportunity to join the IMSS through an agreement established by the municipality, a bank and Social Security. First as a casual worker and later he was hired to do gardening work. During this time he received courses and training from the Institute, including providing first aid.
He came to provide support to other Social Security facilities in La Malinche
He also came to provide support to other Social Security facilities in La Malinche (Tlaxcala), Apizaco and Zihuatanejo, sometimes working beyond his hours and on weekends. But always with great enthusiasm and gratitude to the institution that opened the doors for him to have a stable job.
“They already gave us our pennies, it was a safe salary, it was no longer a job tomorrow, there is no, he had his benefits and to get cured with the doctor,” he recalled.
After many years, Don Maurilio returned to the facilities of the IMSS-Oaxtepec Vacation Center where he worked for more than two decades and he did so accompanied by his daughter. Mrs. María Magdalena Rodríguez, 72, also a former worker and retiree from Social Security.
He pointed out that another of his children worked at the Institute and also two of his grandchildren, at the IMSS hospital in Cuautla, in the Conservation area. “I feel very nice because they have a secure job. He gave me a lot of experience in everything he taught me and I learned about Social Security”, he emphasized.
Recommends taking care of each other, having trust and exercising principles of honesty
To the new generations of workers, he recommends taking care of each other, having trust, exercising principles of honesty and never doing less to a partner, “it is like the inheritance that is left to a child.”
On January 19, the Institute celebrates 79 years at the service of its beneficiaries and throughout this period, its staff in the various health and administrative categories has been a fundamental piece in providing health and social security to millions of Mexicans.
Currently, there are 13 retirees and pensioners over 100 years of age who currently receive a retirement for years of service or a pension for old age. To date, more than 305 thousand retirees and pensioners are in force.
As insured persons they are entitled to Social Security benefits and as workers of the Institute they have access to the Retirement and Pension Scheme (RJP). This is a retirement plan complementary to that of the Law, and which establishes pension amounts higher than those that would correspond to IMSS-insured workers.
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