In Pittsburgh, the city has $700 million in unfunded pension liabilities, and the Mayor is asking for concessions from workers, including the police and firefighters. The firefighters say that taking away their pension plan and replacing it with a 401(k) is not an option. They say that they have been paying into the system for years, and that mismanagement by the city is not their fault. The firefighters say that they would be open to raising the retirement age, but also point to the toll that their job takes physically, and the feasibility of raising the retirement age too much. The Mayor says that cuts are not about the unions, but about the city's need to balance its budget.
See "Pension problems weigh on Pittsburgh", Evan Glass and Jim Acosta, CNN, March 2, 2011