From my own experience within my family, me and my DH both work in the private sector. We put 5% of our salary into a private pension scheme. We both earn a middle-low salary so couldn't afford much more.
My parents were both teachers. They paid 7% of their salary into a pension scheme that they had to join (there was no opt out option). My mum paid this until she hit a certain wage band when her contributions went up (she was made Head of a primary school so it wasn't a massive wage but enough to justify increased contributions). At 67, she is still paying into it - her contributions started when she was 21. My sister has just qualified as a reception teacher and also pays 7% of her salary into a pension scheme. So, they already pay more than I do. Which, in our (admittedly limited) family experience, there is a lot of s**t being talked about how the teachers need to get into line with private sector pensions - they are already asked for a higher contribution than I am.
They both voted to strike.
My Mum is angry because if the government scheme had invested her money, there would be money there for a pension. Instead, she believes that governments have used it as spending money and now there is a pension deficit. There wouldn't be one if that money had been managed responsibly by the civil servants who made the teachers pay into it. She is angry because the way it is reported makes it sound as though the tax payer funds a pension entirely - not true.
My sister is annoyed because she cannot see how putting contributions up, making someone pay for longer but giving them less at the end of it is right. Especially if you add in student debt - by the time teachers have paid back a four year degree and then paid in the kind of pension contributions being discussed, teaching becomes a profession that just doesn't pay enough. 11% or more of a salary on top of a student debt becomes unmanageable, and it's not as though teachers start on a high salary.
Plus, the idea that teaching is a cushy job for life doesn't play any more. For example, my Dad had planned to work until 65. Then a school in our town closed with the attendant loss of 7 teaching jobs. Dad took voluntary redundancy at the age of 63 - and he was the oldest member of staff to go in the cuts. He hopes that at least one young teacher in the area was spared because he chose to go instead.