ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the attitude of trade unions in the UK towards shareholder engagement and outlines the activity undertaken by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) to promote responsible investment. It explains the 'workers' capital' perspective on investment, describes the TUC's work with pension fund trustees and its analysis of fund managers, and discusses responsible investment in the UK and the role of the labour movement within it. The 'workers' capital' movement can be seen as being based on several basic ideas. Uniquely among the variety of groups that have looked at pension fund investment as a way of influencing company behaviour, UK trade unions have considerable potential to bring about change. In the UK, a minimum of a third of the trustees of a pension scheme must be nominated by the membership of the scheme, and the government has recently announced its intention to move to require half of trustee boards to be member-nominated trustees.
