Skip to main content
MENU
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • LOGIN
  • Subscribe
  • Topics
    • Alternatives
    • Consultants
    • Coronavirus
    • Courts
    • Defined Contribution
    • ESG
    • ETFs
    • Face to Face
    • Hedge Funds
    • Industry Voices
    • Investing
    • Money Management
    • Opinion
    • Partner Content
    • Pension Funds
    • Private Equity
    • Real Estate
    • Russia-Ukraine War
    • SECURE 2.0
    • Special Reports
    • White Papers
  • Rankings & Awards
    • 1,000 Largest Retirement Plans
    • Top-Performing Managers
    • Largest Money Managers
    • DC Money Managers
    • DC Record Keepers
    • Largest Hedge Fund Managers
    • World's Largest Retirement Funds
    • Best Places to Work in Money Management
    • Excellence & Innovation Awards
    • WPS Innovation Awards
    • Eddy Awards
  • ETFs
    • Latest ETF News
    • Fund Screener
    • Education Center
    • Equities
    • Fixed Income
    • Commodities
    • Actively Managed
    • Alternatives
    • ESG Rated
  • ESG
    • Latest ESG News
    • The Institutional Investor’s Guide to ESG Investing
    • ESG Sustainability - Gaining Momentum
    • Climate Change: The Inescapable Opportunity
    • Impact Investing
    • 2022 ESG Investing Conference
    • ESG Rated ETFs
  • Defined Contribution
    • Latest DC News
    • DC Money Manager Rankings
    • DC Record Keeper Rankings
    • Innovations in DC
    • Trends in DC: Focus on Retirement Income
    • 2022 Defined Contribution East Conference
    • 2022 DC Investment Lineup Conference
  • Searches & Hires
    • Latest Searches & Hires News
    • Searches & Hires Database
    • RFPs
  • Performance Data
    • P&I Research Center
    • Earnings Tracker
    • Endowment Returns Tracker
    • Corporate Pension Contribution Tracker
    • Pension Fund Returns Tracker
    • Pension Risk Transfer Database
    • Future of Investments Research Series
    • Charts & Infographics
    • Polls
  • Careers
  • Events
    • View All Conferences
    • View All Webinars
    • 2023 Defined Contribution East
    • 2023 ESG Investing
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. ESG
May 14, 2018 01:00 AM

Union pension plans welcome DOL guidance

Hazel Bradford
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Sean McGarvey recognized 'the value and power' of union retirement funds in investing.

    While some ESG investors feel like they are stuck in a game of pingpong with new guidance from the Department of Labor on ESG and economically targeted investing, North America building trades union pension fund officials welcome it.

    Economically targeted investments bring investment returns and other benefits. In the case of the building trades unions, investing in real estate and infrastructure projects that are tied to union manpower can mean successful completion of those projects and more work hours and pension contributions for union members.

    Sean McGarvey, president of the Washington-based North America's Building Trades Unions, promised at its April 17 gathering that the 14 affiliated unions that have $500 billion in pension fund assets among them would "recognize the value and power of our retirement funds" by making sure they are linked to projects that create union jobs.

    More work hours also mean a healthy pipeline of contributions to their pension funds.

    Days later, when the DOL guidance came out, the federation was one of the few groups to welcome it as authoritative guidance to plan trustees, fiduciaries and the multiemployer pension consulting community.

    "Importantly, (it) notes that investments that generate real economic returns, such as infrastructure and real estate, are properly considered by prudent fiduciaries for their impact on the economic interests of the plan, its participants and beneficiaries," the NABTU said in a statement.

    "Among defined benefit plans, multiemployer pensions are unique in that an asset allocation in infrastructure and real estate can be used to provide market returns while generating significant new plan assets. This furthers the economic interests of the plans as well as those of the participants and beneficiaries," it added.

    Building trades officials also appreciate the timing, given the history of DOL guidance on economically targeted investing. Watershed moments came in 2015 and 2016, when the Labor Department under President Barack Obama clarified its views on environmental, social and governance issues through interpretive bulletins. More importantly, those bulletins retracted interpretive bulletins issued in 2008 that, in the mind of some fiduciaries and consultants, had chilled interest in targeted investing.

    Fast-forward to 2018. The new field assistance bulletin keeps those Obama-era interpretive bulletins, while adding some cautionary wording about issues that have concerned Labor Department officials, such as having appropriate analysis for calling ESG factors economically relevant or for covering the costs of shareholder activism.

    An internal AFL-CIO document stresses this latest DOL directive to Employee Benefits Security Administration staff "is subordinate to the Labor Department's prior interpretive bulletins. It does not replace or change the long-standing guidance that the Labor Department has previously issued to ERISA fiduciaries."

    With Republicans in control of the White House and Congress, and business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce lobbying to control increasing levels of shareholder activism, "we wanted to preserve the guidance around ETI," said a building trades official who declined to be identified.

    Related Articles
    Many scratching their heads over White House infrastructure plan
    Unions look for jobs to go with their infrastructure investments
    DOL bulletin on ESG factor use puzzles investors
    GAO wants more clarification from Labor Department on utilizing ESG factors
    Corporate, health-care plans slow on ESG uptake, study finds
    Recommended for You
    U.S. Department building in Washington on Aug. 18, 2020
    25 states sue to stop Labor Department's ESG rule
    Solar energy_i.jpg
    ESG reporting remains murky for private equity firms – survey
    ESG_Group_i.jpg
    ESG themes for 2023 include broader standards, better disclosure — report
    The Institutional Investor's Guide to ESG Investing
    Sponsored Content: The Institutional Investor's Guide to ESG Investing

    Reader Poll

    January 25, 2023
    SEE MORE POLLS >
    Sponsored
    White Papers
    Show Me the Income: Discovering plan sponsor and participant preferences for cr…
    The Future of Infrastructure: Building a Better Tomorrow
    Fulcrum Issues: Equity Returns and Inflation — Choose Your Own Adventure
    What Matters Most in Considering a Private Debt Strategy
    Why pursue direct lending in the core middle market?
    Research for Institutional Money Management
    View More
    Sponsored Content
    Partner Content
    The Industrialization of ESG Investment
    For institutional investors, ETFs can make meeting liquidity needs easier
    Gold: the most effective commodity investment
    2021 Investment Outlook | Investing Beyond the Pandemic: A Reset for Portfolios
    Ten ways retirement plan professionals add value to plan sponsors
    Gold: an efficient hedge
    View More
    E-MAIL NEWSLETTERS

    Sign up and get the best of News delivered straight to your email inbox, free of charge. Choose your news – we will deliver.

    Subscribe Today
    December 12, 2022 page one

    Get access to the news, research and analysis of events affecting the retirement and institutional money management businesses from a worldwide network of reporters and editors.

    Subscribe
    Connect With Us
    • RSS
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn

    Our Mission

    To consistently deliver news, research and analysis to the executives who manage the flow of funds in the institutional investment market.

    About Us

    Main Office
    685 Third Avenue
    Tenth Floor
    New York, NY 10017-4036

    Chicago Office
    130 E. Randolph St.
    Suite 3200
    Chicago, IL 60601

    Contact Us

    Careers at Crain

    About Pensions & Investments

     

    Advertising
    • Media Kit
    • P&I Content Solutions
    • P&I Careers | Post a Job
    • Reprints & Permissions
    Resources
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • FAQ
    • P&I Research Center
    • Site map
    • Staff Directory
    Legal
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Request
    Pensions & Investments
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • Topics
      • Alternatives
      • Consultants
      • Coronavirus
      • Courts
      • Defined Contribution
      • ESG
      • ETFs
      • Face to Face
      • Hedge Funds
      • Industry Voices
      • Investing
      • Money Management
      • Opinion
      • Partner Content
      • Pension Funds
      • Private Equity
      • Real Estate
      • Russia-Ukraine War
      • SECURE 2.0
      • Special Reports
      • White Papers
    • Rankings & Awards
      • 1,000 Largest Retirement Plans
      • Top-Performing Managers
      • Largest Money Managers
      • DC Money Managers
      • DC Record Keepers
      • Largest Hedge Fund Managers
      • World's Largest Retirement Funds
      • Best Places to Work in Money Management
      • Excellence & Innovation Awards
      • WPS Innovation Awards
      • Eddy Awards
    • ETFs
      • Latest ETF News
      • Fund Screener
      • Education Center
      • Equities
      • Fixed Income
      • Commodities
      • Actively Managed
      • Alternatives
      • ESG Rated
    • ESG
      • Latest ESG News
      • The Institutional Investor’s Guide to ESG Investing
      • ESG Sustainability - Gaining Momentum
      • Climate Change: The Inescapable Opportunity
      • Impact Investing
      • 2022 ESG Investing Conference
      • ESG Rated ETFs
    • Defined Contribution
      • Latest DC News
      • DC Money Manager Rankings
      • DC Record Keeper Rankings
      • Innovations in DC
      • Trends in DC: Focus on Retirement Income
      • 2022 Defined Contribution East Conference
      • 2022 DC Investment Lineup Conference
    • Searches & Hires
      • Latest Searches & Hires News
      • Searches & Hires Database
      • RFPs
    • Performance Data
      • P&I Research Center
      • Earnings Tracker
      • Endowment Returns Tracker
      • Corporate Pension Contribution Tracker
      • Pension Fund Returns Tracker
      • Pension Risk Transfer Database
      • Future of Investments Research Series
      • Charts & Infographics
      • Polls
    • Careers
    • Events
      • View All Conferences
      • View All Webinars
      • 2023 Defined Contribution East
      • 2023 ESG Investing