I'm not completely sure but considering how the coal industry went slowly out-of-business with subsidiaries going on for decades - at least that's how it was in Germany - this doesn't seem the way to go. At least I'm more than surprised that companies and the state were looking into early pensions instead of options to start from 0 at a new job.

For other legacy industries like the German ICE car industry it was at times a close call, so that's when the 35 hour week became widely adopted during the 90s. Even today it is still an option for new people joining (working on non-legacy products of course).