But they can cut the amount of the pension and they will. The pension is based on number of years and there is a penalty for not making it to a certain age. I have looked into it and it is substantial. If I left now it would be 30% cut. At my age no one is going to hire someone at a premium (enough to make up the difference) so I am trapped here unless I want to be poor for my retirement.

Suddenly there seems a movement to help my group out. We were notified this week we are getting awards for -- not our hard work - but helping them modernize the job

Then, someone in power made a big deal about how some of our work is done. Ie. it isn't being done correctly. Thus there is a movement to see about changing the work not to be done by us. I hope that is the case. If this is pushed either 1. they will need to hire more people... or 2. stop doing the work this way.