New York: New York City Comptroller Brad Lander announced that the New York City Employees’ Retirement System (NYCERS) and Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) have joined the Labor Rights Investor Network (LRIN), a global initiative of the CWC and its partnering unions.
The network consists of asset managers, asset owners, and investment service providers committed to integrating labor rights into their stewardship practices.
“As financial stewards responsible for the retirement savings of thousands of unionized workers we want to ensure that the companies in which we invest our capital are in turn investing in their workforce. Ignoring fundamental workers rights risks eroding long-term shareholder value,” said Comptroller Lander. “The historic movement to ensure labor rights are respected has led to measurable gains for hundreds of thousands of workers. We are proud to stand boldly with the Committee for Workers Capital to announce this important initiative which centers respecting labor rights as a business imperative key to mitigating systemic risks.”
“Organized labor is the foundation of our City, and a central element of the City workforce whose finances we steward. Worker protections are vital to all New Yorkers. I fully support our membership in the Labor
Rights Investor Network. Membership will strengthen our pension fund and promote positive labor practices that are both prudent and principled,” said New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
The Systems’ membership with the network builds upon an extensive record of prioritizing a company’s treatment of their workforce as a critical factor in their role as fiduciaries responsible for securing strong returns for hundreds of thousands of current and former public sector workers and their beneficiaries. This record includes securing a workers rights assessment by Apple and Starbucks that will conclude this year. The Systems view the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining as a fundamental human right as recognized by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the United Nations (UN).
LRIN members set expectations for their portfolio companies and request that the boards and senior management of these companies take responsibility for labor rights oversight and ensure respect for workers’ rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining. The LRIN is housed at the Global Unions’ Committee on Workers’ Capital (CWC), a committee of the International Trade Union Confederation, the Global Union Federations and the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD that advocates for the responsible investment of workers’ capital.
Comptroller Lander joined network members, representatives from Microsoft and others from the labor and business communities yesterday for an official launch of the Network during an events at the U.S. Department of Labor aimed at highlighting how businesses and investors can become more resilient and competitive by harnessing the growing global movement for worker voice.
In addition to Comptroller Lander, the trustees of the aforementioned New York City pension funds are as follows:
New York City Employees’ Retirement System (NYCERS): Mayor Eric Adams’ Appointee Bryan Berge, Director, Mayor’s Office of Pension and Investments; New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams; Borough Presidents: Mark Levine (Manhattan), Donovan Richards Jr. (Queens), Vito Fossella (Staten Island), and Vanessa L. Gibson (Bronx); Henry Garrido, Executive Director, District Council 37, AFSCME; Richard Davis, President Transport Workers Union Local 100; and Gregory Floyd, President, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 237.
Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS): Mayor Eric Adams’ Appointee Bryan Berge, Director, Mayor’s Office of Pension and Investments; Chancellor’s Representative, Dr. Angela Green, New York City Department of Education Panel for Educational Policy; and Thomas Brown (Chair), Victoria Lee, and David Kazansky, all of the United Federation of Teachers.
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