[redyaris]

A colective agreement is an agreement that both the union and the employer sign and AGREE to. If you want to cast blame then it is on both parties. As to how benifits should be funded I will agree with you that they must be PRE funded not pay as you go; ie the person recieving the defered benifit should "Fund" the cost. Most if not all benifits have costs so they have to be funded up front. I for one have no objectin to unionized public servents, in this case teacher, being well compensated. What I do object to is the notion that we don't need to fund it till some time in the distant future,and with other peoples money! The major problem with pensions is that they have been mismanaged and underfunded for decads now and the chickens have come home to roost.