CalPERS to Invest $100 Million in AFL-CIO Program

The AFL-CIO Pension Investment Program, which solicits investments from pension funds of various labor unions, has obtained a $100-million commitment from the California Public Employee Retirement System.

Jeff Greendorfer, West Coast representative of the labor program, said the investment by the state retirement system represents an important diversification, giving the program additional credibility with non-labor investors.

The 25-year-old investment program invests money in housing and commercial building projects. It seeks out affordable-housing projects in regions where its investors lives and requires that all projects that it finances be constructed by unionized companies.

Greendorfer said the fact that the labor investment program has a secondary goal of encouraging more union work has in some cases made it difficult to develop investor credibility outside union circles. He said California was only the second state, after Ohio, to invest its pension funds.

The state investment represents about 25% of the assets of the AFL-CIO program.