Re: EFES: Re: State of the Union

["de beaufort viviane" <beaufort@essec.fr>]

Seems to be a great idea and project. working as a 
professor of eec law on these issues i am sure that the 
role of pension funds in Europe will be a key role and 
that they have specific responsabilites as investors in 
companies. any idea to give them a feeling of 
responsability in their investments is welcome.
i will be pelased to read your book too
viviane de beaufort
ESSEC-MAnnheim
beaufort@essec.fr
On Sat, 5 Feb 2005 08:27:39 +0100
  Mening Autosite <mening.per.ahlstrom@telia.com> wrote:
>For your information:
> Inspired by the AFL-CIO Institute for Working Capital, 
>the Crocus Institute for Labour Capital (Winnipeg) and 
>SHARE (Vancouver) five European co-operative insurance 
>companies are forming an institute to do research on 
>pension fund managent, to educate trade union pension 
>fund trustees and to instigate discussion on pension fund 
>managment. This institute will be called the Euresa 
>Institute and it will be located in Paris. The 
>inauguration will be the last days in March in Stockholm.
> The European Trade Union Confederation will have a seat 
>on the board of the institute.
> This is really a concrete result of the COG conference 
>in Washington in 2002, as the idea was brought over to 
>Europe via that conference.
> I have also written a book which will be published to 
>mark the inauguration of the institute, called The 
>People's Capital.
> It should be noted that contribution defined pension 
>systems can be a great tool for labour if they are 
>properly designed and managed. The problem is of course 
>that these systems seldom are.
> Here in Sweden we have a mixed system. 16% of the sum of 
>wages is designated to pensions for the retired 
>generation. 2,5% is by law put into a contribution 
>defined system where the individual can choose to put his 
>money into any five out of 600 funds. For workers covered 
>by a union contract (about 80% of the labour force) 3,5% 
>of the wage sum is put into pension funds by individual 
>choice. The number of funds is more limited in this 
>negotiated part of the pension system.
> The start of the system was not very well thought out, 
>and there are lots of things to be learned by both 
>successes and failures.
> One of the successes is that the labour movement created 
>a pension fund of its own, with features that should be 
>of great interest to pension fund managers and designers 
>of pension systems world wide.
> Some of them are:
> Low fees - presently 0,4% of the capital for actively 
>managed funds
> An investment policy which is still under development, 
>aiming to maximize the returns for the individual retiree 
>rather than maximizing the returns on the funds.
> An easily understood fund structure, with "fund 
>packages" related to risk and age, making it clear to 
>people who are new to the investment market that it is OK 
>to take high risks when you are young, but that they 
>should be limited when you get closer to retirement.
> An active ownership policy, which will grow more 
>important as the funds grow.
>Folksam-LO Pension, as the company is called, has now 
>been active since 1998. Their national funds have got top 
>grades in independent assessments. Folksam has been 
>declared the best manager of bonds four out of the past 
>seven years, and the management of national stock funds 
>has been awarded third and second place the last two 
>years.
> Now we are looking at ways of channelling some of these 
>immense funds to the local economies where the 
>worker-investors earn their money. We try to learn from 
>the US, Canada, Italy, Spain and the UK, where we have 
>found some very interesting schemes.
> To me it seems that success in local investment is 
>dependent on how strong a "social contract" you can get. 
>Local risk, local responsibility and limited funds seem 
>to be key.
> I hope the Euresa Institute will be an active partner in 
>the global discussion on pension systems and on how to 
>manage ordinary people's money.
> Per Ahlstrom
> 
> 
> 
> 2005-02-04 kl. 14.04 skrev Marc Mathieu:
> 
>> Thank you very much for this.
>> I think this American debate is of highest interest also 
>>for Europeans.
>> Furthermore, at the same time, the European Union is 
>>reviewing its 
>> long-term objectives about employment, social and 
>>economic policy, 
>> what is known here as "the Lisbon Strategy".
>>  EFES (the European Federation of Employee Share 
>>Ownership) urges the 
>> European Union to give a major attention to employee 
>>ownership in the 
>> Lisbon Strategy. Unfortunately, our success seems low, 
>>and I don't see 
>> much interest for this debate around the Lisbon 
>>Strategy, even from 
>> most employee ownership activists.
>> Marc Mathieu
>> ----- Original Message -----
>>  From: Michael Bindner
>> To: orglabor@cog.kent.edu
>> Sent: Friday, February 04, 2005 5:15 AM
>> Subject: Re: State of the Union
>>
>> I wrote an article summarizing his task force's 
>>recommendations, which 
>> his remarks are based on.  Go to 
>> http://www.christianleft.net/FiscalPolitics/socialsecurity.html
>>  
>> For a more detailed analysis of the true nature of the 
>>crisis, go to:
>> http://www.christianleft.net/FiscalPolitics/socialsecuritycrisis.html
>>  
>> For an explanation of why labor would ever want to 
>>accept personal 
>> accounts, go to:
>> http://www.christianleft.net/21stCentury/unionowned.html and 
>>especially
>> http://www.christianleft.net/21stCentury/PayEquity.html
>>
>> Marc Mathieu <marc.mathieu@pi.be> wrote:
>> Would you give some detailed explanation for Europeans?
>> Thank you in advance
>> Marc Mathieu
>> ----- Original Message -----
>>  From: Michael Bindner
>> To: orglabor@cog.kent.edu ; social_ins@cog.kent.edu ; 
>> ownership@cog.kent.edu
>> Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2005 7:03 PM
>> Subject: State of the Union
>>
>> Remember to watch Bush's speech tonite.  It looks like 
>>he's actually 
>> going to go with Privatization as a big agenda item.  
>>Now, the 
>> question is, how do we hijack it to expand ownership.
>>  
>> There will not be a chance like this for decades.  Once 
>>this debate is 
>> resolved, no one is going to want to revisit the issue 
>>for a long 
>> time.
>>  
>> Mike Bindner
>>
>>
>>
>> Michael Bindner
>>
>>  http://www.iowafiscalequity.net
>>  http://www.christianleft.net
>> http://xianleft.blogspot.com
>>
>>
>>
>> Michael Bindner
>>
>> http://www.iowafiscalequity.net
>>  http://www.christianleft.net
>> http://xianleft.blogspot.com

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