

The problem is that for many of the nearly retired folks a job in the government was the promise of a good wage with great benefits and good retirement options. They want it gone because it forced other companies to play catch up in pay and benefits whenever the government could pay better.
It’s also not easy to walk away from a pension program when you’re so invested in it. It’s designed to make people stay long term and put in the work.
It wasn’t designed that way, but it turned into a system that forced private enterprise to play pay and benefits catch up.
Also, it was protected and had regulations, but when the people in power simply ignore those regulations it doesn’t matter. The problem here is that people have lived in relative comfort for the last 70 years and were throwing it away to remember what a history book could have taught us.