Anyone who is a trade union member or trade union employee can contact their trade union regarding divestment. A list of trade unions is available at: x

Employers’ Pension Schemes:
Unions may well have representation among the trustees of an employer’s pension fund. This is certainly the case for local authorities, where the pension fund trustees include UNISON representatives. If this is the case for your pension scheme, you could ask your branch to mandate its pension fund trustee to campaign for divestment from the target companies. Of course, individuals can also write directly to their pension fund to press for the same thing..

Union Pension Schemes Union employees:
Unions usually provide a staff pension scheme for their own employees. Its trustees will be responsible for investment policy and they may include employee representatives. If you are a union employee you could contact your representatives and ask them to raise the question of divestment and/or an ethical investment policy. If the union is one that has members in the relevant industries (oil, for example), they may be reluctant to formulate a policy that ‘screens’ out investment in these companies. There are many unions, however, for which this would not be a consideration.

Union members:
If your union has a defined benefit scheme in which any shortfall in the fund’s performance is made up by the employer (i.e. the union), members are in a theoretically influential position as any shortfall in the fund is likely to impact on their subscription.

If lobbied for divestment and/or an ethical investment policy, trustees may thus feel justified in asking whether members would be prepared to pay higher subscriptions should the policy adversely affect the fund’s performance. The trustees would need to feel they have strong support from the membership and so the more support you can get from other union members, the more likely you are to be able to make this an effective challenge.

Strong resolutions from branches, district and national gatherings could carry more weight, and persuade unions of the need to respond to demands for ethically managed pension funds. Even if progress cannot be made on the main fund, it may be possible to persuade them to adopt an ethical option for any Additional Voluntary Contribution scheme they have.

General Trade Union Funds

Trade unions also have general funds some of which may be held in the Trade Union British Trust. This is one of three unit trusts managed by a company called Trade Union Fund Managers Limited which invests in a wide range of British commercial and industrial companies.

Trade Union Fund Managers Ltd was set up in 1961 to enable trade unions to invest their surplus funds in those companies in which their members worked. Since then there have been changes and, although trade unions still account for a substantial portion of the unit trust funds, they have for many years been open to other corporate bodies and individuals.

BACKGROUND NOTE
Trade Union Fund Managers Ltd is managed by a board of directors who are in a position analogous to that of trustees. In the 1970s the directors did agree an investment policy that excluded companies investing in South Africa. This was in response to union pressure at that time. Since then, we understand that there have been no further requests for ethical considerations to be taken into account.

Since 1969, instead of having shareholders, Trade Union Fund Managers Ltd has been owned by a Charitable Trust. Company profits are distributed to good causes supported by the trade union movement. All the trustees are trade unionists.

If you are a TUBT unit trust holder: To challenge the investment policy being applied to investments in the Trade Union British Trust, write to the Chair and any other member of the board of the Trade Union Fund Managers Ltd that seems appropriate.

If you are a union member: Ask your union whether they invest in the Trade Union British Trust. If they do, ask that they consider divesting or use their influence to request that the directors adopt an ethical investment policy. Remind them that the trade unions were able to influence investment decisions in the 1970s during apartheid in South Africa. Why not now?

Tell other union members at branch and regional level. Get a resolution passed that puts pressure on the general secretary of your union and cannot be ignored. Tell contacts in other unions about these investments and urge them to take the issue to their general secretary as well.

UNISON’s Ethical Investment
UNISON has an ethically managed staff pension fund, with a portfolio where all companies are assessed against a number of criteria. Those selected for investment will have achieved an agreed ranking on a matrix that evaluates a company on the sustainability of its core business as well as its management vision and strategy.