Pensions were underfunded for decades, due to improper assumptions
about future returns. There was a tacit understanding between unions
and corporations, whereby pensions would go underfunded, and pension
promises were over-promised. The hope was that the management could
avoid war with the union, and the workers would later get paid anyway
due to government pension benefits guarantees. In the mean time,
higher assumptions about future returns greatly boosted the bottom
line of those companies, leading to great management bonuses.

This is well described in a book that I have, _While America Aged_ or
some such. It reads well and is very insightful.

As to whether management should or should not be paid more than the
contribution to workers pensions, this is not an easy question and
deserves more than a stupid knee-jerk reaction.

In the ideal world, I think, corporations would be best without
defined benefit pensions at all and with the workers accumilating
their private savings, in addition to Social Security. The pension
accounting is rife with hard to fix problems.

i