Yep. Me. A former union researcher and a public health healthcare professional.
I ran for pension board. It’s actually a pretty powerful position.
What?
Yes. I got 407 votes. I came in last, because I didn’t campaign at all. I got 350 signatures to get on the ballot, but only 407 votes. A top management supervising attorney in the corporation counsel’s office supported by senior LA County management as well as the largest labor union, Service Employees International Union Local 721, came in first place. Another manager came in second. The rank-and-file healthcare and welfare eligibility workers who ran didn’t get more than 500 votes. We had a divided slate.
I had some health issues after turning in my petitions; double vision fixed after a month and a half with steroids, and a weird sudden lethargy on the weekend and when the ballots dropped that prevented me from going around to worksites to campaign.
I was endorsed by the California Association of Professional Employees, a small union of 2,500 members who represent tax assessors, GIS analysts, and the like. As a research analyst, my job is similar to many of theirs. But I was an SEIU member. I asked the endorsement of the environmental justice committee on a conference call, saying I wanted to divest our pension investments from big oil companies, but the conversation seemed subdued and there was a lack of interest. I got some pushback. Shouldn’t this just be about getting the most money possible? Forget social responsibility, we have a fiduciary responsibility to maximize returns.
I tried to argue that New York and University of California pension funds have already divested from big oil and have won lawsuits by those who argued fiduciary responsibility. It is the property rights of pension funds to invest how they see fit. With global warming caused by oil, gas, and coal-based carbon emissions, and 120-degree days scorching southern California, it is about time we pull our head out of the California beach sand and support the California Democratic Party program to transition renewable energy. The oil industry is squarely behind Donald Trump, it’s a shame the committee didn’t want to do anything. But SEIU had already endorsed corporation counsel’s candidate, so there was nothing they could do. Try running for something else, I was urged, like the water board. With so many pollutants in drinking water, that actually is a good idea. I guess they were right. As a contractor for 2.5 years and a permanent employee for only a year, I was relatively new to the county, where older employees stick around because of the great retirement benefits.
The position I ran for, the LACERA Board of Investments, oversees the investment strategy of a 75+ billion-dollar pension fund. I had a seven-point program, which I shared with CAPE.
- Save pensions from attack, austerity, and privatization.
- Divest from fossil fuels, weapons manufacturers, and military contractors.
- Reinvest in working families instead of foreign multinationals by supporting small businesses and companies paying high wages and providing job training in low-income Los Angeles County communities.
- Support campaigns to make companies pledge to remain neutral in labor union organizing elections.
- Engage in strategic medium- and long-term investment planning instead of chasing short-sighted quarterly profits to guarantee robust rates of return and a secure retirement for all pension beneficiaries.
- Engage in fund management and shareholder activism to get companies to support telework and a shorter work week with no loss in pay to reduce commutes, traffic, and air pollution.
- Support a regional public bank with microloans for local cooperatives and aspiring entrepreneurs.
Imagine what would happen if the people controlled the money? There is the power of organized money and the power of organized people. With our union pension funds, we have the power to use organized people to organize money.
It’s not just Los Angeles County, where retirees and current employees have equal votes with appointed political representatives. Other major pension funds, including City of Los Angeles employees, police and fire, water and power, teachers, city college and state university professors and other municipal and state employees all contribute to pension funds. Many unions have pension plans as well, including Hollywood unions, Teamsters, and skilled trades.
Imagine what would happen if we all pooled our resources to move wall street to do good for the planet. We could create good paying union jobs, direct resources to economic development in under-resourced at-risk communities, move away from a downward spiral of investments in oil and war, and to sustainable development based of mutual respect, peace, and renewable energy.
California alone has over a trillion dollars of pension funds that elected Democrats and unionized workers can potentially control. New York is already starting, with divestment from oil. The University of California is as well. Not only is the University of California investment fund divesting from the oil industry, but UC Riverside and UC Berkeley have agreed to advocate for divesting from the defense industry after spirited encampments and protests opposed to Israel’s war on Gaza. After a winter when union after union passed resolutions against the war, and spring semester of campus tent encampments, what if the youthful energy behind the 2020’s peace movement moved strategically towards divesting university, city, county, state and private sector pension and investment funds from arms manufacturers and big oil? We could move the needle, and reinvest trillions in dollars in workers cooperatives, health and wellness, and environmental sustainability.
Unfortunately, I lost the pension board race. Because of my health issues, some of which you can read about here in “The Dissident Jailed Covertly,” I decided to leave California for good, and I am traveling north, an internally displaced migrant.
But the people’s movement for control of our own money is alive and well. Public sector workers, students, youth, and citizens have an opportunity to advocate at the ballot box and in the street to take control of our retirement savings. We must wield its combined might for good, not evil. Banks do it all the time to make the rich richer, to automate skilled trades, and attack workers standard of living. Take back our money! Save the planet and ourselves.