Are we going to claw back all the comp and shareholder returns from the folks who stole from Boeing while it went down the drain? No, we'll just say that's the cost, even though it is obvious that is what crippled the org. "Pensions are absolutely crippling" while orgs are strip mined in plain site, with a noticeable lack of hand ringing over said strip mining.
https://www.epi.org/publication/retirement-in-america/
https://www.pionline.com/defined-contribution/401k-experimen...
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/08/magazine/401k-retirement-...
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/retirement/great-401-k-expe...
Australia's system is a model: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superannuation_in_Australia
Regular nonunion employees get 10% match, immediately vested.
They did get a pay raise, but the main issue was over paid sick days and this was denied.
My only small sympathy is that this was still at the tail end of the pandemic. So the strike could have legitimately made things really bad and accelerated a recession.
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Good news: There were still negotiations, and mid-february 2023 a few unions announces a deal that would give them 4 sick days + 3 personal days to convert to sick days. They apparently credit the senate for putting pressure on the railroads to allow this.
So despite calling off the strikes, there was essentially more negotiations behind the scene to prevent long term damages to morale (i.e. workers simply retiring early or otherwise leaving the industry).
Edit: Although it does appear there is a cap to the employer's contribution ($69,000 for 2024 [1]). But I think the general point still stands, why bother to have employer and employee limits.
[1]: https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employ...