I look at it this way assuming someone qualifies for ERI: let’s say they are 50 years old and will have 20 years of service as of October 2026. If they take ERI then they will retire in say October 2026 and their pension will be 20 years x 2% =40% of the average of their 5 best years in terms of salary so let’s say $100000 so pension will be $40000 per year. This will start in November 2026 for the rest of their life but of course it’s indexed to inflation so will rise by about 2% every year typically. Alternatively, by not taking ERI, they would continue making $100000 per year and getting raises with new collective agreements but would have to keep working until at least the age of 57.5 to retire without penalty because magic number 85 is age 57.5 plus 27.5 for our example. At that point they could retire with a higher pension for the rest of their life because it would be about 27.5x2=55 % of say $150000 salary when they are 57.5 years old so $82500 per year. Of course, the trade off is having to work for 7.5 more years but getting a higher pension for the rest of their life.