The survivors' benefit for those who participate in our plan--and I had to refer to my technical expert, and I apologize for that.... Our members accrue a benefit of 2% per year of full-time work, and the survivors' benefit is half of that. So if I had a spouse and I had been married to my spouse for ten years and something unfortunate happened and I died, my spouse would get 10% as a survivor's benefit.
I guess the question then becomes, what's reasonable? I think there does have to be some bridging. I appreciate that in many jobs people do get a death benefit as well. That's the equivalent of two years' salary, which would help people out in the short term transitionally.
Quite honestly, if you have kids and you've been unfortunate enough to get terminal cancer or AIDS--it's World AIDS Day--and you die, and your spouse is left with kids, and you have a 10% benefit, it's not particularly helpful in advancing your standing. Economically you're supporting your survivors--your kids or your spouse.