Consumers Research has asked the Department of Labor to investigate whether the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and its president, Randi Weingarten, have improperly used public pension funds as a political weapon. Weingarten has publicly called for boycotts and divestment campaigns targeting companies, many of which those same pension funds hold for return purposes. Consumers Research alleges that she is using the implied weight of teachers’ retirement assets as leverage for political activism unrelated to securing teachers’ retirements.
Pension trustees are entrusted with acting in the financial interests of the people whose retirements they manage. When union leadership pressures trustees to divest from politically disfavored companies or uses retirement portfolios as a cudgel in corporate pressure campaigns, it is a betrayal of the beneficiaries those trustees exist to serve.
Fiduciaries should not be activists, and pension funds exist to generate returns. The retirement security of our teachers is at risk when trustees make politically motivated investment decisions that underperform or lose value.