How is a worker supposed to know if the benefits are properly funded? Even if they can know, some of these used to be funded correctly (when they were hired) but later cuts made them underfunded.

Are you serious? You expect a 22 year old firefighter to know how well funded the pension system is?

Give me a break.

Yes. Stop absolving adults of responsibilities they’re well capable of owning. You don’t get to hide being big dollar signs and claim ignorance.

So they should comb through auditor's reports, and recognize when the funding entity has been improperly seconding pension contributions over to the general fund such that it will run dry in 23 years instead of the mandated 42?

If we're lucky, we find out about these things when a government changes hands and an audit is conducted - typically years after the fact. Also, one can start one's career under a sound system that is eroded through mismanagement.

It's in the news all the time - it takes a minute to do a google search. Also, you have a union - if it screws you, well that's on you for being in the union.

It's in the news years after the pensions are granted. A lot of people choose the jobs before the news started coming out.

A lot of the people who have these pensions took the jobs before google even existed, so telling them they should have googled this is ridiculous.