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Overview

Pensions at Work links unions and universities in an international research project exploring the socially responsible investment of union pension funds. It is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. This project responds to a call from the trade union movement for more research and educational resources to assist union pension trustees, activists and pension staff in shaping a union pension agenda.

The research program of Pensions at Work was designed with the trade union movement by the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. It involves another six universities in Canada, the United States, and Britain. Pensions at Work is endorsed by the CLC and all affiliated provincial federations of labour.

Research topics include: the impacts of shareholder action and corporate engagement on rates of return; the social and financial benefits of economically targeted investment; as well as the development of accounting tools to assess the return; the impact of social screens on market value; legal barriers to socially responsible investment; and, barriers faced by union representatives on pension boards. Since the project started, new research topics have come on-line including one on global standards—including the new British law on social investment—and one on women and pensions.

During its three-year lifetime, Pensions at Work is transforming pension research into labour education and resources. The first step was to create the Web site http://www.pensionsatwork.ca where all the research will be housed. There will also be an annotated bibliography of resources on pension fund investment, other educational resources like videos of panel presentations, overheads and case studies. As labour education modules are produced, they are put on the Web site. A feature of the Web site is our on-line discussion groups where pension activists and union trustees can discuss issues and share experiences. The Web site is accessible in English and French.

Labour education in pension fund investment is vital because our pensions must ultimately work for us to help us retire in dignity, and this $550 billion of Canadian workers' deferred savings must also work in our interests to make our communities stronger and provide good jobs for our families. Social investment—a central premise for the research in Pensions at Work—is designed to work out practical strategies that are in the interests of working people and ensure secure lives for working people before and after retirement.

Labour education in pensions can help union trustees and activists keep ahead of the latest research in fund investment, capital strategies, the latest trends in statutes and case law, actuarial assumptions, and socio-economic trends. Labour education can also help to bring members up to speed on pension issues and allow them to take leadership roles on pensions within the labour movement.

Pensions at Work makes sure the research and education stays on track by having an Advisory Group of professionals as well as a Union Reference Group to work with professors and their students, shaping the research, advising on new programs, and keeping the project grounded in research and education relevant to working people. In three year's time, when Pensions at Work has completed its work, we expect that its legacy of work will continue in the hands of the trade union movement.