[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 56 (Tuesday, May 3, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H2751]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                PENSION FUND BLACKMAIL FROM LABOR UNIONS

  (Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Florida asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Florida. Mr. Speaker, recently the Wall 
Street Journal highlighted a disturbing trend among labor union boards. 
They are engaging in pension fund blackmail to bully corporations into 
agreeing with their partisan political agenda. A top AFL-CIO lobbyist 
was referring to financial services funds backing the President's 
personal retirement account proposal and he said, ``We have no 
intention of letting any of these companies get away with this while 
they manage our workers' funds.''
  And 3 trustees representing the New York City Employees Retirement 
System sent a letter to several investment banking companies demanding 
to know their Social Security stance.
  These union boards should be ensuring their members' pensions are 
being wisely invested in qualified ethical companies.
  How can we say that Sarbanes-Oxley has strengthened corporate 
responsibility if labor unions are investing in and managing corporate 
boards based on their political interest rather than their fiduciary 
responsibilities to their members and the corporations for which they 
represent?

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