Trends in Union Corporate Campaigns - US Chamber of Commerce
Trends in Union Corporate Campaigns - US Chamber of Commerce
Trends in Union Corporate Campaigns - US Chamber of Commerce
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the unions are <strong>in</strong> the process <strong>of</strong> transform<strong>in</strong>g their movement<br />
from one based <strong>in</strong> represent<strong>in</strong>g workers to one based <strong>in</strong> manag<strong>in</strong>g<br />
their collective f<strong>in</strong>ancial resources.<br />
The potential <strong>of</strong> this strategy was first identified by Peter F. Drucker<br />
<strong>in</strong> 1976 <strong>in</strong> his book Unseen Revolution: How Pension Fund Socialism<br />
Came to America, and was shortly afterward set forth more directly by<br />
Jeremy Rifk<strong>in</strong> and Randy Barber, who spoke <strong>of</strong><br />
… lay<strong>in</strong>g out the groundwork for both the takeover <strong>of</strong><br />
pension capital and the implementation <strong>of</strong> an alternative<br />
economic base, one <strong>in</strong>dependent <strong>of</strong> the private-capital<br />
sector. 22<br />
This idea was thus ripe for action when the Sweeney<br />
adm<strong>in</strong>istration took over the AFL-CIO <strong>in</strong> 1995. As described by<br />
Richard Trumka, Secretary-Treasurer <strong>of</strong> the federation,<br />
Back <strong>in</strong> 1995, we did a survey <strong>of</strong> all the programs around<br />
here—what was happen<strong>in</strong>g to labor, where were we<br />
headed? We found out that workers’ money—not only<br />
was it not be<strong>in</strong>g used to help workers as <strong>in</strong>vestors or<br />
shareholders, but it was actually be<strong>in</strong>g used aga<strong>in</strong>st us.<br />
So we decided to organize our money essentially the way<br />
we organize workers. 23<br />
This decision led to a series <strong>of</strong> actions, the details <strong>of</strong> which lie<br />
beyond the scope <strong>of</strong> this brief<strong>in</strong>g. 24 For our purposes, it will<br />
suffice to state that the objectives were (a) to capture effective<br />
control over proxy-vot<strong>in</strong>g decisions by pension fund trustees, (b)<br />
to expand substantially the def<strong>in</strong>ition <strong>of</strong> fiduciary responsibility<br />
so as legitimize the vot<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> these proxies on the basis <strong>of</strong><br />
social policy and other non-f<strong>in</strong>ancial grounds, (c) to create an<br />
<strong>in</strong>frastructure to promulgate this new standard <strong>of</strong> accountability<br />
32<br />
<strong>Trends</strong>