There is a difference between employee pensions and Social
security. SS is only supposed to cover around 40% of what you need to live on in retirement. (Less if you are a high income wage earner.) Employee pensions are to allow the person to live comfortably in retirement.
There is no reason why we continue to provide pensions to government employees. It is high time we end these pensions and structure 401k, 403b pension plans for those in government ‘service’. This is what the average American is required to deal with and most often at a much lower rate of salary.