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Union- and other worker-based pension, health and savings funds, worth some $6 trillion, hold the retirement and health security of millions of working families. How well are these funds being protected from the corporate malfeasance that brought down Enron, WorldCom and Tyco International? The Office of Investment leads the AFL-CIO’s capital stewardship efforts to protect worker capital—workers’ futures. Recent News- A new report by Building Justice, shows how Pulte and its active-adult subsidary, Del Webb, originated too many high-risk loans during the boom and are not being held accountable for the devastating results.
- The AFL-CIO has issued a new report, Facts about the AFL-CIO's Proxy Votes. The report lists all director votes made by the AFL-CIO from 2004 to 2006 and shows there is no relationship between those votes and the union affiliation of the employees of those companies. The AFL-CIO report conclusively refutes false statements about the AFL-CIO's proxy voting that have been published in The Wall Street Journal's editorial pages. These editorial opinions have cited an unpublished, nonpeer-reviewed graduate student paper from the University of Chicago.
- As the top five Wall Street firms hand out a record $38 billion in bonuses, the AFL-CIO called today for an immediate one-year moratorium on subprime mortgage foreclosures. Click here to read the press release and sample letter to Citigroup. In addition to Citigroup, copies of the letter were sent to Countrywide, Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, Lehman Brothers, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Washington Mutual and RBS.
- For the second time in the past two months, The Wall Street Journal has launched an attack on the AFL-CIO Office of Investment's capital stewardship program. Click here to read the AFL-CIO's response.
- In a partisan 3-1 vote, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) attacked the right of investors to nominate corporate directors by implementing a rule that allows companies to bar shareholder access to ballots for board elections. This is the first time the SEC has voted recently to take away investor rights to present shareholder proposals on corporate governance issues. Click here to view the press release.
- The AFL-CIO sent a follow-up letter to the individual companies listed in its report last month detailing conflicts of interest involving directors who are also directors of health insurance or pharmaceutical companies. The letters requested certain information regarding the companies' conflict of interest policies and involvement in healthcare- and employee benefits-related decisions.
Events- Council of Institutional Investors spring meeting, April 9-11, Washington, D.C.
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