Govt. has allowed corporations to not only gut pensions, but let them play fast and loose with what's left.
I had a technical job that had the fortunate advantage of being covered by the IBEW. On the downside, we were a tiny unit with not a lot of clout. For whatever reason, the people I worked with never thought they'd retire, I guess.
Naturally enough, the company's pension plan was not available to us - whatever it was - and the formula for ours was $x times years of service per month. Every contract, the "x" would be negotiated upward, but at a glacial place.
By the time I left, it had reached the princely sum of $13. So, after the 12+ years I spent there, and minus the little bits and pieces that we were never told about, my monthly from them is $108.
Fortunately, I had made some arrangements of my own, and the govt. of Canada is far more generous than the Fortune 500 subsidiary that I worked for. My wife and I get by, but Heaven knows what we'd do if I didn't own this house. The average 2 BR rental here is $2300.
Before we got married (2nd for both), I told her that she was marrying the ant, and not the grasshopper. Not that she should expect anything like a grand lifestyle, but we'd be warm and indoors, and eating every day...plus a few perks.
Our life is in SPITE of the pensions, not because of.
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