Pension Funds, Unions, and Working Class Strategies
December 13, 2013
We are pleased to invite participation in an open workshop series focused on the role of Canadian workers’ pension funds in the larger national and global economy.
One of the key features of the continuing deep economic crisis facing Canadian workers is the attack on long established pension and retirement benefits, which are now dismissed as a costly frill that only benefits a shrinking minority of the workforce. The defence of these benefits by trade unions is becoming more difficult and divisive – it risks appearing self-serving in a context where the older notion that private, employer-based plans might serve as a positive step toward a universal system of full coverage for all workers is no longer credible.
Workshop Coordinators:
• Convenor: Kevin Skerrett (Canadian Union of Public Employees), kevin.skerrett@gmail.com
• Greg Albo (Centre for Social Justice), albo@yorku.ca
Proposed Series Schedule and Details:
Each of the six workshops will be held on Friday afternoons from 3:30pm – 6:00pm, every other week. (We will skip November 8th, and use November 15th in its place)
Registration not required for the last two sessions — open to all.
• September 27: From Pension Fund Socialism to Pension Fund Capitalism?
• October 11: Trade union and ‘progressive’ strategies: The Responsible Investment, Capital Stewardship, and ‘pension fund activism’ movements
• October 25: Fiduciary Duty – A legal shield for corporate capitalism?
• November 15: Pension funds and privatization: P3s and pension-financed privatization
• December 6: The Rise of Finance – What role for trade unions & pension funds? With Michael Rafferty, John Peters and Aidan Conway.
• December 13: Trade unions, pensions, corporations, and the state. With Doug Henwood and Sam Gindin.
Location and Time: Sessions will be held on Fridays from 3:30-6:00 in the ING Room, ground level, at the Centre for Social Innovation, 720 Bathurst Street (one block south of Bloor).
This workshop is co-sponsored by the Centre for Social Justice, Global Labour Research Centre (York University), Canada Research Chair in Political Economy (York University) and Socialist Project | PDF flyer | Facebook event
