International Herald Tribune- International trade union leaders on Thursday warned pension funds not to invest in private equity and hedge funds, saying they frequently hurt workers and avoid tax.
The International Trade Union Confederation  the world’s largest union group representing 168 million workers in 153 countries  said it was advising pension trustees and managers to take extreme care with “casino funds” that they claimed do not live up the hype of outperforming other investments.
“Pension funds should remain on high alert over unsustainable investments and avoid committing workers’ retirement incomes to them,” said ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder.
“The retirement incomes of millions of workers are at stake, and the future for these funds is much less rosy than they would have us believe,” he said as the organization launched a report on hedge funds.
Union leaders voted Thursday for investors of workers’ capital to exercise caution on these investments until governments tackled regulatory, transparency and sustainability issues.
