Subject: A Tribute to Ron Blackwell, a free e-book on RI & the Labor Movement, and Infrastructure Investing
From: "Tom Croft" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2018 11:01:32 -0400 (EDT)

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March 15, 2018
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Dear H,
For those of you who might want to join us, welcome to the Thursday Espresso.  The
Espresso is a bi-weekly newsletter from Heartland Capital Strategies [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001VgRQeY_eagNoz4FlJ0VUwvabzSr6-AuFEZZXhjcfks1OPu5grO4B9-Rbdv8kRSzV8e0iwu1whBegTFYXuOsM-446_cE9tqINcBHD3jhRzy1Jl6rhwz_QYRwreHQ-T3p1L1aVw2MLF5z-ej2vRxGHdCghhgS5-IEi1DABq4Eb47Se6lTsg3DmRw==&c=1lfFkTY_ediPhu7omBtKCUxhjXyn0mnarSNzdsezkSh8RkdgTlLpcA==&ch=pCdHGzyllXK6KEtUyDO6WgdNbFwYx6YtqidRTfQNrwOqz-l81nvDbA==]
(HCS), which fosters a "Community of Practice" for responsible impact investments.
Heartland promotes strategic responsible investments to rebuild the rebuilt environment,
renew the industrial commons, grow the clean economy, and make the boss more accountable.
We are dedicating this issue to our late friend, Ron Blackwell, the former Chief
 Economist for the AFL-CIO, and a force for good for many decades.  Along with a
 thoughtful memoriam written by Jeff Faux, former President of the Economic Policy
Institute (EPI), we wanted to post two other features that Ron might have enjoyed.
 One is the new Heartland Mini-Book, Responsible Investment (RI) and the Labor Movement:
A Love Story.  This colorful document recounts the incredible history of working
 people and Labor's pioneering role in investing in people and communities, going
back almost 170 years.  The second is a new policy paper on pension fund investment
in infrastructure by the Committee on Workers' Capital (CWC). With over 400 participants
from 25 different countries, the Committee on Workers' Capital (CWC) is an international
labour union network for dialogue and action on the responsible investment of workers
capital.

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So Long, Ron! A Farewell to Ron Blackwell, "Common Sense" Economist for the Labor
Movement

"No doubt this attack on democracy reflected the rise of a wealthy minority...which
called itself the Oligarchical Party, and denounced democracy as an incompetent 
sham."  This passage, from back in the day, might have been a tongue-in-cheek quote
from Mark Twain about the raw, wild west violence of the robber barons of the Gilded
Age, or maybe by Thorsten Veblen, the author who wrote The Theory of the Leisure
 Class and coined the term "conspicuous consumption," about the rigged greed of 
the Roaring '20s.
Wrong.  It was actually a quote from a book by philosopher Will Durant, who was 
writing about the counter-attack on the democracy at the time, several hundred years
BC, in Athens, during the time of Socrates.  Many Americans, including silver-haired
business lions, feel we are returning to the Gilded Age and Roaring '20s, when financial
and corporate barons ruthlessly worked to destroy their competition and remove the
early vestiges of labor unions and business regulation.
Today, we face the specter that the super rich and its friends in the gilded halls
of power are doing their best to curb voting, kill unions (and the freedom of association),
destroy our ability to make things, and, with the recent tax bill and bludgeon-like
attacks on the Dodd-Frank bill, monopolize the marketplace beyond recognition.  
If we lose this fight, the machine-like growth of income inequality and economic
 unfairness, so factually and painfully rendered in French economist Thomas Piketty's
Capital magnum opus, will surely splurge.
It is with these thoughts in mind that we mourn the recent passing of Ron Blackwell,
who, most recently, served as the Chief Economist of the AFL-CIO.  Ron had a deep
understanding of how current oligarchies have betrayed the country, and he had a
 progressive populist view that we--the 99%--need to fight back.  Ron would still
be raging about the wars on working people and the resultant demolition derby that
has been rolling across our land, hurting people and communities.
That is why we dedicate this issue of the Espresso to Ron.
During his years at ACTWU (the former clothing and textile workers' union), Ron 
and Bill Patterson established the LongView Funds, through Amalgamated Bank, which,
for over 25 years have taken an activist approach to investing with ESG criteria.
 At the Federation, Ron helped design and helm the corporate affairs department,
 and helped launch the Office of Investment and "Common Sense Economics."  In that
capacity, he was also a founder of the global CWC.
I interviewed Ron for our Responsible Investor Handbook. As we said in the book,
 over the years, global labor leaders and capital stewards increasingly recognized
the importance of coordinated activist engagements and investment collaboration.
 This led to the establishment of global labor networks that coordinate shareholder
and political actions and provide mutual support. At the request of the Global Trade
Unions and the AFL-CIO, the Dutch Federation of Trade Unions (FNV) organized a conference
in 1998 at which the FNV presented the union policy on responsible investment and
laid the foundation for the establishment of the Committee on Workers' Capital (CWC).
 From the book:
The final plans for the CWC were designed in a meeting at the Capitol Hill Restaurant
in Washington, D.C. between AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and Bertil Jonsson, Executive
President of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation.
"American workers had a voice in over $6 billion in pension funds at the time," 
explained Ron Blackwell, former Chief Economist of the AFL-CIO.  "Globally, the 
labor movement had a voice in over $13 billion. We needed to organize Workers' Capital
to demand a strategy for responsible shareholder action and real investment, in 
ways that were in the interests of working people."
The CWC was launched by the Executive Board of the then International Confederation
of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), following a November 1999 conference in Stockholm 
of trade union leaders from ICFTU affiliates, national union federations, and TUAC
(the Trade Union Action Committee to the OECD). As an arm (today) of the International
Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the CWC brings together representatives of the
 international labor movement to share information and develop strategies for joint
actions. These national and international labor centers have advanced some of the
most ambitious and aggressive corporate responsibility campaigns to date, including
shareholder actions against companies working in Burma, which sanctioned slave labor,
and against the multinational mining company Rio Tinto for massive labor abuses 
in the global South.
Creative capital stewards across countries have pushed the envelope by voting their
shares in hundreds of companies, targeting a multitude of corporate issues and increasing
the integration of ESG into their pension and institutional investments. They have
invested in common pools of capital the global responsible investment movement and
the launch of the UN PRI across borders and globally with a focus on areas such 
as housing and infrastructure, clean energy, and climate change.
Today, workers' capital has grown to $41.3 trillion in pension and other institutional
funds.  In the US that number is $25.4 trillion, and there are $10+ trillion in 
defined benefit funds.  Unions and working people have a voice in many of these 
funds, as union representatives and employees are Directors of Pension Trust Boards.
 So, Ron's initial inclination was spot-on.
Last, as a country economist, so to speak, from Alabama, Ron related to those of
 us who were part of the plant closure and unemployment movements in the 1980s and
'90s.  While at ACTWU, he and his union were a pivotal co-sponsor for the 1989 Industrial
Renaissance Conference, along with our friends at the Steelworkers and our national
network.  Ron was there, and he spoke at that event, one of the first stabs at presenting
a national, sustainable industrial policy from the ground up. If you've followed
 the smart economic policy papers coming out of the Century Foundation "High Wage
America" coalition and our ongoing Heartland Cities Tour, you'll see that original,
path-breaking Renaissance Conference outline.  After moving to the Federation, Ron
whole-heartedly supported the break out of the Heartland Labor/Capital Network in
the mid-1990s.  He supported alternative economic strategies and campaigns to the
hilt.  Ron wanted to understand what worked, and he lent his name to our many-faceted,
mutual struggles to take back America.
In these times, we face a dangerous new Oligarchical Party.  When we fight back-for
our jobs and dignity, for our families and communities-we are following the proud
legacy of Ron Blackwell.   He was a warrior for workers, as Bill Patterson told 
me.  We are eternally grateful for the wit, wisdom and work of Ron Blackwell.
Tom Croft
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LINKS OF
INTEREST

Heartland Capital Strategies [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001VgRQeY_eagNoz4FlJ0VUwvabzSr6-AuFEZZXhjcfks1OPu5grO4B97oYZfN4dSaa8x8C7udnLdjkM6tNBF1gp-uul3RteriFKj927UqfaZCfeo4Ib4REPRPKzBCsRCH2i8q_E8B5a0K2d2lCaKhv7k9mvPsbdlpLr42CCtNzN3Ji78M61DI0VQ==&c=1lfFkTY_ediPhu7omBtKCUxhjXyn0mnarSNzdsezkSh8RkdgTlLpcA==&ch=pCdHGzyllXK6KEtUyDO6WgdNbFwYx6YtqidRTfQNrwOqz-l81nvDbA==]
Responsible Investor Handbook [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001VgRQeY_eagNoz4FlJ0VUwvabzSr6-AuFEZZXhjcfks1OPu5grO4B97uMQq5Tet6Yv7jdvkU1wyEdhzi167dgVoFWyz_w-4wIbKv6JtjBW_Xa58jbxFcC3YzzjUl4DqYsr_1NKb6ZtNqk-MoSrmOCrzhqMlTsTYhHjeSjsn1TP37xIJ_RH7WhcytmHKWpizggntfzV2Fk9M0Kd9NHEb0gAEsI2oUavBFi&c=1lfFkTY_ediPhu7omBtKCUxhjXyn0mnarSNzdsezkSh8RkdgTlLpcA==&ch=pCdHGzyllXK6KEtUyDO6WgdNbFwYx6YtqidRTfQNrwOqz-l81nvDbA==]
Heartland Webinar - RI & the Labor Movement: A Love Story!
February 16, 2018
Featuring Keith Mestrich, Amalgamated Bank
Register Today [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001VgRQeY_eagNoz4FlJ0VUwvabzSr6-AuFEZZXhjcfks1OPu5grO4B90_fRoMWyYI2Dx9G1AfnRYKvX6yKVhYpumBEufQ7OCqBJ04cno1AJ2fnErsje9XqZvea2efQWJmVJZxZURYX8kXzQ7KWpqQSuQ-GAlz4iQpNLgcJSbYV2dySDBWfJd1f6m8MBFUo99tgi6cqIiASDcDSZpw_UMG27nqVcjP7Slh4pknzQYfxO7nqfModdKkRhQ==&c=1lfFkTY_ediPhu7omBtKCUxhjXyn0mnarSNzdsezkSh8RkdgTlLpcA==&ch=pCdHGzyllXK6KEtUyDO6WgdNbFwYx6YtqidRTfQNrwOqz-l81nvDbA==]
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ECOSYSTEM PARTNERS

Sleigh Strategy, LLC
Robert Samuel
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Ron Blackwell (1946-2018)
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By:  Jeff Faux, EPI
Ron Blackwell, a friend to EPI since its early days, died on February 25. Ron had
a long career in the labor movement, starting with the Amalgamated Clothing and 
Textile Workers Union in New York, moving to the AFL-CIO in Washington, D.C. until
he retired in 2012.
Raised in Alabama, he was a steadfast defender of the rights of working people and
a life-long enemy of economic injustice in its many forms.
He pioneered in the design and management of campaigns to use the financial and 
pension assets of labor unions as a tool of organizing and collective bargaining.
Having studied economics and political economy at the New School, he understood 
how elite decisions hidden from the public can destroy efforts by ordinary people
to better their lives. His was a relentless voice urging the labor movement to demand
a seat at the table of economic policy. He also played an important role in efforts
to create international labor solidarity in a world of globalizing capital.
Above all, Ron Blackwell was the rare man of principle who actually had the courage
of his convictions. As a young man, he chose to go to prison rather than submit 
to those who were waging the unjust and terrible war in Vietnam. In his years as
 a labor advocate, he was quick to spot hypocrisy among political leaders, who-as
the late mineworkers' leader John L. Lewis once put it-"supped at labor's table 
and sheltered in labor's house" but then, "cursed with equal impartiality both labor
and its adversaries."
Ron told it like it was.
EPI, the labor movement, and the country have lost a valiant warrior in the struggle
for justice.
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Responsible Investing & the Labor Movement: A Love Story
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If you were unable to join us on February 16, for our webinar Responsible Investing
& Labor: A Love Story, you are in luck! A replay of the webinar is available on 
our Heartland website [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001VgRQeY_eagNoz4FlJ0VUwvabzSr6-AuFEZZXhjcfks1OPu5grO4B947JhVAo4XokZPr9VRztFa6-e014JoSi8ABmVYwDP4HWr4hLkMxVm0Op0AJFVqPqB98e1RCrt86R-CiCbdzn_htQq14M13qi_Y7C7zha9JC5j0mdexS0x6YW9yJFxD1FiIy7jgvIptJq&c=1lfFkTY_ediPhu7omBtKCUxhjXyn0mnarSNzdsezkSh8RkdgTlLpcA==&ch=pCdHGzyllXK6KEtUyDO6WgdNbFwYx6YtqidRTfQNrwOqz-l81nvDbA==]
and as a perk of being a loyal subscriber & reader of the Thursday Espresso, we're
sharing a copy of the accompanying mini-book with you today.
DOWNLOAD YOUR COMPLIMENTARY COPY [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001VgRQeY_eagNoz4FlJ0VUwvabzSr6-AuFEZZXhjcfks1OPu5grO4B947JhVAo4Xokx5Q45HqHJy1acICsnPGeOmQLvyr2jrqkD0W-cUP373xBtkpNNdEhZx7HxoXlEcVhex1DAPm7qi5NpiX_jf3ABhwRM9PAzv9spVPR8nZVTCxel7HqgBCfLDA02rSWdtaZq11kEew4u1k5O6VkTUbTqV0o8ufW6mHyyzoXvt5ft4WrqrpDV1bjyIIqWFnEwOzW&c=1lfFkTY_ediPhu7omBtKCUxhjXyn0mnarSNzdsezkSh8RkdgTlLpcA==&ch=pCdHGzyllXK6KEtUyDO6WgdNbFwYx6YtqidRTfQNrwOqz-l81nvDbA==]
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Trustee Guidance Note on Pension Fund Investment in Infrastructure
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Across the globe, governments see investment in infrastructure as a major priority,
not least as part of the shift to a low-carbon economy. At the same time, public
 finance levels have deteriorated as debt to GDP ratios have increased. In these
 circumstances, one of the best options for public financing of public infrastructure
remains borrowings and loans, either by way of regular bonds or specially created
infrastructure bonds. The latter are considered attractive because they can be tailored
to specifically fit the needs of the parties, i.e. the lender and borrower.
There will be circumstances where government loans and borrowings are not available
and governments will seek partnerships with institutional investors to fully or 
partly finance infrastructure. In such cases and where a pension fund intends to
 become a partner in such infrastructure investments, trustees need to consider 
carefully how infrastructure may fit within their fund's investment strategy, remembering
that beneficiaries' interests are paramount.
In cases where a government seeks to access institutional capital to deliver an 
economic or social outcome and the benefits of accessing that capital are demonstrated
to outweigh the costs, it needs the capability to identify and prioritise a pipeline
of infrastructure projects that are suitable (or could be made suitable) for institutional
investor financing participation where this is considered appropriate. [READ MORE
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001VgRQeY_eagNoz4FlJ0VUwvabzSr6-AuFEZZXhjcfks1OPu5grO4B947JhVAo4Xok_1Aki-vEZYE3DF05f_wzs6HF5W0exOQGc2E952twKx3CpFWBQh_bwPRISg-Xf2ouTXpcXP1ug5aeTOnQDuHcZyzDPrHmzSVn6MqQJvElxHAYeLQgtYnj3w3MpBudgSL965OohTnDkQrQV82d0tatwpIJ1cgUstDAYRA487XStKnYLdCzmLqz1w0OeUymeEaFcQC3neL9GxoAdyEeuWLLbazD1tD0u-BB7HK6UQUuA8tjmgjAI3XYVQ==&c=1lfFkTY_ediPhu7omBtKCUxhjXyn0mnarSNzdsezkSh8RkdgTlLpcA==&ch=pCdHGzyllXK6KEtUyDO6WgdNbFwYx6YtqidRTfQNrwOqz-l81nvDbA==]]
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Heartland Capital Strategies [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001VgRQeY_eagNoz4FlJ0VUwvabzSr6-AuFEZZXhjcfks1OPu5grO4B9-Rbdv8kRSzV8e0iwu1whBegTFYXuOsM-446_cE9tqINcBHD3jhRzy1Jl6rhwz_QYRwreHQ-T3p1L1aVw2MLF5z-ej2vRxGHdCghhgS5-IEi1DABq4Eb47Se6lTsg3DmRw==&c=1lfFkTY_ediPhu7omBtKCUxhjXyn0mnarSNzdsezkSh8RkdgTlLpcA==&ch=pCdHGzyllXK6KEtUyDO6WgdNbFwYx6YtqidRTfQNrwOqz-l81nvDbA==]
fosters a "Community of Practice" for responsible economic impact investments. Heartland
promotes strategic responsible investments to rebuild the rebuilt environment, renew
the industrial commons, grow the clean economy, and make the boss more accountable.
Inspired  by the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI),  Heartland
Capital Strategies (HCS) promotes investments and projects  essential for revitalizing
our productive economy and community  prosperity.

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