I don't know if the Editor's Note was originally at the top of the article, or if it was added later, but it's kind of critical to understanding it:
"Yvonne Walker [the author] is president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1000, which represents 95,000 California state employees."
So it's really just CNN publishing an organization's self-serving political propaganda that says "compared to taxpayer-funded pensions, which you better not vote to take away from us, 401(k)s suck". Which is true. But only applies to people who might lose the chance at participating in a cushy pension system.