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    2014 May 07

    TWELFTH ANNUAL PENSIONS AND CAPITAL STEWARDSHIP CONFERENCE

    Wed - Fri, May 7 to May 9, 9:00am - 5:50pm

    Location: 

    Harvard Law School, Cambridge MA

    Pensions and Capital Stewardship Project, Labor and Worklife Program
    in collaboration with 
    PSL-Université Paris-Dauphine, Chair Dauphine-Ensae-Groupama  
    Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts

    “Pension Fund Investment in the Long View: Where, With What Goals, and Why?”

    From May 7 to May 9, 2014, the Project held its twelfth annual conference, this year, in collaboration with PSL-Université Paris-Dauphine, Chair Dauphine- Ensae-Groupama. Trustees from the United States and Canada were joined by senior pension fund staff, scholars, researchers, and others from across the United States as well as from Brazil, Canada, France, Morocco, and the United Kingdom. The conference explored a range of issues with a particular eye to the meaning, import, and practice of long-term investing in general and how it relates to investment in emerging market countries in particular.
    [More Info]

    2014 Feb 06

    "Citizens Derided: Corporate Politics & Religion in the Roberts Court"

    4:00pm to 6:00pm

    Jamin Raskin Darrin Spann
    Jamin Raskin,
    Professor, American University,
    Washington College of Law &
    Maryland State Senator

    Introduction by 
    Darrin Spann, Assistant Director of AFSCME Council 13 in Pennsylvania 

    Opening Remarks by Professor Jamin B. Raskin: 
    "In 2010, in the 5-4 Citizens United decision, the conservative majority on the Roberts Court broke from government 'of the people, by the people, and for the people,' and gave us a constitutional blueprint for government of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations. It held that for-profit corporations have the right to spend unlimited sums—million or billions of dollars-- promoting or disparaging candidates for public office."

     Brochure of full transcript [Download]

    2013 May 16

    Promoting Labor and Human Rights Through Investments

    9:00am to 4:00pm

    Location: 

    U.S. Department of State 320 21st Street, NW Washington, DC 20520

    US Dept of State LogoCo sponsored with the U.S. State Department Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. 
    Participants included activist pension fund, SRI, and other institutional investors, US. State Department officials and staff.
    [Download Agenda]

    2013 May 01

    ELEVENTH ANNUAL PENSIONS AND CAPITAL STEWARDSHIP CONFERENCE

    Wed - Fri, May 1 to May 3, 9:00am - 5:50pm

    Location: 

    Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA

    From May 1 to May 3, 2013, the Project held its eleventh annual conference, attended by pension trustees from across the United States as well as from Canada and the United Kingdom.  They were joined by scholars, researchers, and practitioners from the U.S., Canada, France, and Australia, and Colombia. The conference explored a range of issues concerned with possible fund investment in emerging market countries: the political, social, legal, economic, etc. landscape  of the countries in which those investments might be made; the factors and considerations which funds attend to when contemplating investments of this kind; the relationship between emerging market country development goals and investors’ goals; and the rationale for and means by which funds take into account the impact of their investments on the countries which are the object of that investment. 
    [More info]

    2013 Feb 14

    "ORGANIZING THE FUTURE OF WORK"

    4:00pm to 6:00pm

    Saket Soni
    Saket Soni
    Executive Director
    New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice and
    National Guestworker Alliance

     

    		Elissa McBride
    Opening Remarks by
    Elissa McBride,
    Director of Education and Leadership Training, AFSCME
     

    Opening Remarks by Elissa McBride:
    "Born and raised in New Delhi, India, Saket Soni has been a driving force in the effort to secure justice for workers fighting for their dignity in post-Katrina New Orleans. During the reconstruction of the Gulf Coast, black workers whose families had lived in New Orleans for generations were denied jobs. At the same time, thousands of immigrant workers were given false promises of steady jobs, fair pay, great conditions and even permanent legal status...Saket Soni brought those workers together, linking their struggles across the lines of race and class and citizenship. He helped build a broad platform from which they could wage an inspiring fight for justice and dignity."

     Brochure of full transcript: [Download]

    2012 Mar 29

    TENTH ANNUAL PENSIONS AND CAPITAL STEWARDSHIP CONFERENCE

    9:00am to 2:00pm

    Location: 

    Harvard Law School, Cambridge MA

    Cover Pension conference March 2012The Pension Project held its tenth annual conference, attended by pension trustees from across the United States as well as from Canada and the United Kingdom.  They were joined by scholars, researchers, and practitioners from the U.S., Canada, France, and Germany. The conference explored a range of issues concerned with the relationship between pension fund investment and economic growth and job creation; assessed the merits of financial markets reform in the United States, especially as it pertains to pension funds; considered the rationales for and the import for themselves and others of pension fund investment in commodities; discussed a range of activities - from research to engagement - concerned with the bearing of S-factors, particularly workplace related considerations, on investment decisions; described new and important ways of rethinking the meaning and practice of fiduciary duty; and described initiatives in the United States by which public sector pension plans can facilitate private sector worker participation in retirement plans.
    [More Info]

    2012 Feb 09

    “She Was One of Us: Eleanor Roosevelt and the American Worker”

    4:00pm to 6:00pm

    Brigid O’Farrell
    Brigid O’Farrell
    Mills College     		Elissa McBride
    Elissa McBride
    Director of Education and
    Leadership Training, AFSCME

    Opening Remarks by Elissa McBride, Director of Education and Leadership Training, AFSCME:
    "Like Eleanor, [Brigid] knows that we can make real change if we link education and action. I hope you will listen, learn, and leave committed to honor the legacy of Jerry Wurf and Eleanor Roosevelt by passing on the knowledge you gain here to others, so that together, we can restore the right to organize and bargain for all workers – public and private."

    Brochure of full transcript: [Download]

    2011 Mar 16

    9th Annual Conference of the Pensions and Capital Stewardship Project: Pensions, Retirement Security and Strategies for Investment

    Wed - Fri, Mar 16 to Mar 18, 5:00pm - 2:00pm

    Location: 

    Harvard Law School, Cambridge MA

    penconf_2011_4_COVERThis year’s annual conference featured speakers and panels on key topics, including a critical perspective on the operation of financial markets in which pension funds participate, the nature and implications for pension funds of the recently enacted financial markets reform legislation; the current and future landscape of those who provide financial services to funds, the relationship between pension fund boards and their staff, consultants, and asset managers,  the progress and impact of corporate governance reforms, efforts to sustain public sector pension plans both currently and with any eye to the future, and the challenge of retirement income security for all households.
    [More Info]

    2011 Feb 10

    "Raising Our Sights: Fighting for a Progressive Vision in Sharply Contested Terrain"

    4:00pm to 6:00pm

        Miles Rapoport
    Miles Rapoport
    President of Demos       		Paul Booth
    Paul Booth
    Executive Assistant
    to the President, AFSCME

    Opening Remarks by Paul Booth, Executive Assistant to the President, AFSCME:"Miles Rapoport is the president of Demos. What is Demos? There is an awful lot of Demos material out on the table there, and you really should indulge freely in it. To me, Demos is simply the leading voice in the United States for small d democracy. Its mission, as I see it, is this cause which it so
    ably advances.

    Miles Rapoport has a career that included personal involvement in Connecticut politics, to which he brought activism, organizational skills, and a set of real deep commitments."

    Brochure of full transcript: [Download]

    2010 Apr 21

    Capital Matters VIII - Managing Labor's Capital

    Wed - Fri, Apr 21 to Apr 23, 6:00pm - 2:00pm

    Location: 

    Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA

    coverAmong the topics on which this year’s Capital Matters conference focused were systemic risk and its pension fund and other implications, various aspects of pension fund risk management, a rethinking of fiduciary duty, an assessment of the success of capital stewardship, challenges faced by employment-based retirement plans and the broader challenge of retirement security for all households, and the new landscape of pension fund investment in infrastructur0
    .[More Info]

    2009 Dec 10

    Capital Matters in Europe 2009

    9:00am to 5:00pm

    Location: 

    International Trade Union House, Brussels

    The Project worked with the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) and the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC)  (with the Global Unions Committee on Workers Capital as a knowledge partner) to convene a meeting modeled on the Project’s annual  “Capital Matters: Managing Labor’s Capital Conference.”  This one-day event, “Capital Maters in Europe 2009,” took place in Brussels on December 10th.  It brought together member-nominated pension fund trustees, trade union officers, pension and other experts and policy makers who offered views and shared experiences from across Europe and from a transatlantic perspective.  It focused on how workers’ and their families’ retirement and other long term savings can be invested in productive assets in the real economy in a fair, sustainable and responsible way and not diverted into unproductive financial transactions and speculation.
    [More]

    2009 Apr 29

    Capital Matters VII - Managing Labor's Capital

    Wed - Fri, Apr 29 to May 1, 6:00pm - 2:00pm

    Location: 

    Harvard Law School, Cambridge MA

    coverThe Pensions Project held its 7th annual “Capital Matters: Managing Labor’s Capital” conference on April 29 – May 1, 2009. Many of the sessions related to the challenges posed by the world- wide financial and economic meltdown but also the opportunities. For example, the conference opened with a European labor perspective on the impact on how the financial and economic meltdown has played out in European financial markets and economies, the diverse responses of European Union countries and perspectives on financial markets regulation.
    [More]

    2009 Mar 26

    Long-Term Investment Decisions: Assessing the Sustainability Risks of Labor and Human Rights and Other Workplace Factors

    6:00pm

    Location: 

    Harvard Law School, Cambridge MA

    On March 27-28th the Pensions and Capital Stewardship Project convened a meeting on “Long-term Investment Decisions: Assessing the Sustainability Risks of Labor and Human Rights and other Workplace Factors.” The meeting brought together about 45 people from major U.S. and European pension funds, investment management, advisory, and research firms, accounting firms, labor and human rights groups, unions, and academics. The goal was to hold a workshop-style event to exchange ideas about how investors can begin to measure a wide range of workplace-related factors and analyze their potential materiality to long-term portfolio returns. The meeting covered a range of topics, including labor and human rights in global supply chains; human capital factors such as employee ownership, teams, and high-performance work systems; and shareholder engagement actions on such issues. The discussion yielded recommendations for research in a broad range of topics; proposals for practical action by participants, such as the establishment of a network to exchange information and ideas; and the application of those findings to investment decision-making and possible engagement with corporations. 
    [More]

    2008 Apr 16

    Capital Matters VI - Managing Labor's Capital

    Wed - Fri, Apr 16 to Apr 18, 5:00pm - 2:00pm

    Location: 

    Harvard Law School, Cambridge MA
    Fortune Teller Painting
    "The Fortune Teller," Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, c 1595

    LOCUSTS VERSUS LABOR: HANDLING THE NEW CAPITALISM

    • TURMOIL IN FINANCIAL MARKETS: CAUSES, CONSEQUENCES, AND CHOICES
    • CORPORATE GOVERNANCE REFORM: WHAT DIFFERENCE HAS IT MADE OR COULD IT MAKE FOR WORKERS?
    • LABOR IN CAPITAL MARKETS: SQUARE PEGS AND ROUND HOLES
    • PENSION FUND (AND OTHERS’) ENGAGEMENT ON CORPORATE LABOR AND HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES
    • SHOULD A PENSION FUND MAKE PROPERTY INVESTMENTS THAT ARE LABOR FRIENDLY? IF SO, HOW?
    • CAPITAL STEWARDSHIP WITHIN AND ACROSS BORDERS: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
    • NOVEL, YET PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS TO RETIREMENT SYSTEMS WOES: THE DUTCH AND OTHER EXPERIENCE ABROAD; A NEW APPROACH TO EMPLOYMENT-BASED PENSIONS; A NEW APPROACH TO RETIREMENT SECURITY FOR ALL
    • WHAT TO DO WHILE WAITING FOR UNIVERSAL HEALTH INSURANCE: ARE VEBAS AND OTHER PRE-FUNDED SCHEMES PART OF THE SOLUTION OR PART OF THE PROBLEM?
      [More]
    2007 May 02

    Capital Matters V - Managing Labor's Capital

    Wed - Fri, May 2 to May 4, 6:00pm - 2:00pm

    Location: 

    Harvard Law School, Cambridge MA
    • CRITICAL CHALLENGES FOR PENSION FUND GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT
    • CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS IN PRIVATE EQUITY INVESTMENT
    • CORPORATE GOVERNANCE IN THE UNITED STATES
    • ENSURING RETIREMENT SECURITY FOR ALL
    • THE RELATIONSHIP AMONG CORPORATE FINANCE AND GOVERNANCE AND LABOR-MANAGEMENT AND OTHER WORKPLACE IMPACTS
    • SECURITIES CLASS ACTION LITIGATION: WHAT HAS IT ACHIEVED? WHO HAS BENEFITED?
    • WHAT MAKES FOR EFFECTIVE LABOR REPRESENTATION ON PENSION BOARDS?
      [More]

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