GOP Seeks Union Inquiry
Two Republican members of the House Education and Workforce Committee asked the Labor Department on Friday to investigate the AFL-CIO campaign against corporations supporting President Bush’ s Social Security proposal.
The request came after two investment firms and a trade group withdrew from business coalitions backing Bush when union leaders threatened to withdraw pension funds from portfolios managed by the firms.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. March 24, 2005 For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday March 24, 2005 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 3 inches; 99 words Type of Material: Correction
Union pension funds -- An article in Saturday’s Section A about a request that the Labor Department investigate an AFL-CIO campaign against President Bush’s Social Security proposal said union leaders had threatened investment firms that they would withdraw pension money if those firms backed Bush’s proposal. Such threats have been alleged by Republicans on Capitol Hill. AFL-CIO officials said they had asked money managers to stop supporting the president’s proposal because they believe it is not in the interests of investors. However, they say the AFL-CIO does not govern pension programs and has not threatened to withdraw any funds.
“If labor bosses are violating federal labor and pension laws by pressuring employers into opposing Social Security reform ... we believe it should be investigated,” said Rep. Sam Johnson of Texas. He was joined in the request to the Labor Department by the committee’s chairman, Rep. John A. Boehner of Ohio.
The two charged that union leaders who controlled pension fund investments might be violating their fiduciary duties to invest pension funds properly if they threatened to withdraw investments from companies that backed the president.
An AFL-CIO official said the lawmakers’ comments were an attempt to enlist the government to “punish workers and their unions for exercising their 1st Amendment rights.”
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