anything toward their pensions. >> reporter: at the university of california, employees can retire at age 60, with full benefits, when the university tried to increase that to age 65, unions said, no deal. >> it is easy to say, i don't have this, and they shouldn't have this but people don't realize people made deals, and people are going to make deals where they are going to get less pay and better benefits and it keeps people at a public institution. >> reporter: another problem, pensions spiking which allows employees to boost their annual retirement from, say, 80 grand to $120,000, by pumping their final year's salary and lawmakers tried to reform the system but the unions said, no. >> they work real hard for one year, cash out their vacation, cash out their holidays, and take extra duties and that all goes into the final pay for pension and that is how you get 20 to 30% of your salary. >> reporter: in san francisco, taxpayers pay 80% of retirees' health care, a ballot proposition would have capped the exposure to 50%, and unions