Most public (i.e. government) "pension funds" are not pension funds, they are welfare benefits programs for retired people. That is, they are not primarily fun

Most public (i.e. government) "pension funds" are not pension funds, they are welfare benefits programs for retired people. That is, they are not primarily funded through individual savings or investments but through current taxes. The US Social Security system, for example, works this way. While excesses are "invested" in US government treasuries, this is really just a delayed tax obligation. And while the SSA may provide you with a report about your "account" -- complete with contributions, balances and anticipated payouts -- it's mostly meaningless as your benefits are not contractually tied to past contributions. They are instead only related by regulation, but those regulations can be changed at any time. The article is about GE's pension fund, which is separate and distinct from the US government "pension fund" (the social security system). It is also not a 401(k) or similar fund, those are tied to individuals and managed by a third party. Many larger and more established companies and organizations in the US have pension funds similar to GE. They are typically defined benefit funds, as opposed to defined contribution funds. Defined benefit means that the amount of the pension is defined up front and does not depend on investment returns during the lifetime of contributions. This obviously creates problems if returns are not as good as projected and provides a temptation for companies to put less into the fund, hoping that future company growth will make up the difference. Many companies have succumbed to this temptation, GE among them it seems. Without even looking at the details of the GE plan, I strongly suspect there will be multiple lawsuits over this action. On the other hand, it's a bit surprising that GE could unilaterally take this action without the buy-in from various unions, so maybe they pre-negotiated it ahead of time.