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Political Science Economic Policy

Pension Power

Unions, Pension Funds, and Social Investment in Canada

by (author) Isla Carmichael

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
Sep 2005
Category
Economic Policy, Labor & Industrial Relations
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802036476
    Publish Date
    Oct 2005
    List Price
    $81.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442678347
    Publish Date
    Sep 2005
    List Price
    $80.00

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Description

Canadian pension fund assets are second in size only to the combined financial assets of the major banks and have become a critical source of capital for national and international markets. Given their tax-exempt status, pension funds can provide the long-term capital needed to build a new economy based on real productivity. The funds are controlled by an intricate web of financial and legal standards but, as deferred wages, are largely beyond the control of workers or their unions.

In Pension Power, Isla Carmichael argues that unions could – and should – have a new role to play in the economy by gaining control over their members’ pension funds. She demonstrates how the financial industry’s access to the capital goes against the interests of working people, and she provides convincing evidence that union management of pensions would better protect benefits and offer support in building infrastructure in communities and protecting the environment. This is a work of singular commitment to a fundamental shift in the structure of managing one of Canada’s largest pools of capital.

About the author

Isla Carmichael is the director of policy for the Ontario Expert Commission on Pensions, and a sessional lecturer at the Department of Adult Education and Counselling Psychology at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.

Isla Carmichael's profile page

Awards

  • Winner, Donald Smiley Prize

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