A national teachers’ union is urging public pension funds to ask their money managers how they will safeguard retirement assets given the steep plunge in Tesla shares this year.
In a letter to more than 75 state and city chief fiduciary officers of U.S. public pension funds, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten is requesting they reach out to money managers overseeing their investments “to urgently review their current holdings” in the electric carmaker led by Elon Musk, according to an April 2 statement.
The shares are down more than 40% from a closing record on Dec. 17, the second-worst performance in the S&P 500 for the period. Meanwhile, the company on April 2 reported the lowest sales since 2022.
The latest outreach comes after Weingarten wrote in late February to some of the largest US money managers expressing concern about the drop in the share price. She is reaching out now directly to pensions after receiving no responses from the money managers, according to this week’s statement.
The “drop in Tesla sales increases the retirement risk to plans that millions of nurses, teachers and other workers are invested in,” Weingarten said in the latest statement. “Our members’ right to retire with dignity and grace after decades of service to families and communities is paramount.”
Tesla’s slump comes amid the broader equity rout that has caught the attention of public retirees. Along with risks the stock price slump poses to pensions, public school teachers have expressed concern about the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency’s efforts within President Donald Trump’s administration to potentially cut funding or dismantle the Department of Education completely.
