CalPERS pushes grocery pact

Sacramento Bee ^ | January 23, 2004 | Gilbert Chan

[calcowgirl]

NAPA -- The mammoth California Public Employees' Retirement System is stepping up its investor campaign to end the bitter 3-month-old supermarket strike in Southern California.

Rob Feckner, chairman of the $154 billion fund's investment committee, said Thursday he has asked one of its major money managers -- Alliance Bernstein -- to exert pressure on Safeway Inc. to "bargain in good faith so we can get this behind us. (Alliance) is a big holder in the company, and they need to get involved," he said.

[SBprone]

Some time ago I read a story that said the Calpers board was being overrun with union-affiliated board members. Looks like the time has come for them to do their duty to the unions and put the screws to the supermarkets.

I wish they'd just stick to their job: protecting the financial interests of Calpers members.

[calcowgirl]

the fund sent letters to the companies' chief executives urging them to end the dispute while blasting officials for their "blatant disregard for quality-of-life issues" in the negotiations.

No bias there! /sarcasm
The union anglee makes perfect sense.

[NormsRevenge]

Time to send in Willie Brown!!! :-\

[Damagro]

Do the twits on strike not realize they have lost a thousand times what they intended to gain by striking for over 100 days? Fire them all and hire replacements. People that stupid aren't worth employing

[BookmanTheJanitor]

NormsRevenge;

Have you been put out by the strike? Know anybody who has? I think these strikers were expecting us to throw up our hands and beg for a quick end to this strike. Pretty much life as usual down here in south Orange County. Was wondering if it's the same where you are.

[evolved_rage]

CalPERS, the nation's largest public pension fund, owns nearly $180 million in the stock of the three companies.

SWY has a market cap of $10 Billion
KR has a market cap of $14 Billion
ABS has a market cap of $9 Billion

Considering CalPERS has about 0.5% ownership, it'll be interesting to see CalPERS influence, or if they are just posturing.

[tertiary01]

Willie Brown is on the board of administration of Calpers.Here's the cast;
Sean Harrigan=Pres
Rob Feckner-V.Pres
Sidney Abrahms
Phil Angelides
Willy Brown Jr.
Robert Carlson
George Diehr
Priya Mathur
Michael Navarro
Mike Quevado
Karato Shimado
Charles P Valdez (ex CSEA pres)
Steve Westly

[NormsRevenge]

I'm in San Jose, no local stores are affected in this area that I know of.

[NormsRevenge]

Thanks. A veritable den of foxes guarding the henhouse.

[PokeyJoe]

posted to put Miserable failure = Michael Moore at the top spot in Google.

see tag

[Drango]

Calpers has a fiduciary duty to it's members not to be a Gephardt head.

[Bernard Marx]

Funny how the serpent loops around and bites itself in the butt. Even union investors want ROI. Hilarious!

[tertiary01]

If any State (or most county) employees want to see their retirement money in action, go to downtown Sacramento (I believe it's on the 400 block of Q Street) and see the second huge building that Calpers is building. It looks like it takes up the whole block.

[NormsRevenge]

Sounds like a QuaziGubamintal Pagoda ... built to inspire and hold the devotees of a religion in awe of the power of collectivism.

[Solson]

The Supermarkets are not going to back down on this one. If they back down, they lose in the long run. If they hold strong, they'll lose only in the short run.

[tertiary01]

I wonder where in Napa the meeting was held ---Silverado?

[calcowgirl]

You obviously have too much time on your hands! LOL.

Twice last night someone responded to my posts (without explanation) and a link to MichaelMoore.com (miserable failure). I actually clicked on it... it made me sick.

But... you will be happy to know that your Michael Moore MichaelMoore.com miserable failure campaign is working. MichaelMoore.com now shows up #1 on google when doing a search on "miserable failure".

Google Search "Miserable Failure"

So... did I mention 'Michael Moore' and 'Miserable Failure' enough?

[NormsRevenge]

LOL.. The power of the internet .. at yur fingertips.

[GeronL]

is CALpers a private entity or government??

[NormsRevenge]

The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) provides retirement and health benefit services to more than 1.4 million members and nearly 2,500 employers. Our membership consists of active, inactive and retired members from the State, school districts and local public agencies.

Technically, it is public.. but due to its immenseness, it kind of stomps on whoever it so chooses to do so... much like a runamuck gubmint agency.

[NormsRevenge]

As the nation's largest public pension fund and the third largest in the world with assets totaling $153.8 billion at October 31, 2003, CalPERS investments span domestic and international markets.

[calcowgirl]

California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS).

An agency of the state: About CalPERS

[GeronL]

I am really not liking government agencies trying to exert that kind of pressure on business

[SBprone]

"The Supermarkets are not going to back down on this one. If they back down, they lose in the long run. If they hold strong, they'll lose only in the short run."

About a month ago a union official expressed surprise that, in his opinion, the supermarkets were trying to break the union. He said he hadn't thought they would do that when the strike began.

I also don't think they set out to break the union. That is a very expensive thing to do. But now after months of strike related losses the incremental cost of breaking the union is much less than it was at the beginning of the strike. I think the union has maneuvered itself into a position where the supermarkets feel compelled to go for total victory because they have already paid much of the price for it.

It is stunning that this large bargaining group would be represented by such incompetent officials. It's as if they placed a loaded gun in the hand of management and said "I dare you to pull the trigger."

[calcowgirl]

I am really not liking government agencies trying to exert that kind of pressure on business

Check out this Forbes article or just do a search on 'calpers' and 'activism'. They've been at this for a while.

Calpers Rides Again
The scourge of corporate slackers is back, with an ambitious leader and a controversial new agenda
Fortune Magazine December 8 2003

To visit the unofficial world headquarters of shareholder activism, you have to fly to Sacramento and locate the government office building that is home to the 1,600 employees of the California Public Employees Retirement System, or Calpers, the nation's biggest pension fund. The Finance Minister of the Philippines made the trip to Calpers after the fund decided to divest its holdings in his country. So did top executives of JDS Uniphase, which Calpers accused of destroying shareholder value. When AIDS activists from Los Angeles wanted to pressure GlaxoSmithKline to lower the prices of drugs in Africa, they sought help from Calpers – and got it. "Calpers is the 800-pound gorilla," says Tom Myers, general counsel at the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

With assets of $154 billion and a willingness to throw its weight around, Calpers is one of the world's most influential investors. Its ally in shareholder advocacy, the California State Teachers Retirement System, or Calstrs, has another $103 billion in assets. That concentrates a quarter of a trillion dollars of investing power in a state not known as business-friendly. How that power will be used by the trustees who run Calpers and Calstrs – all Democrats, many with close ties to unions – is an important question.

(snip)

[GeronL]

This reminds me of the Clinton-Gore proposal to put all of the social security funds in the stock market.... imagine government buying controlling interests in major corporations and making them act like good little liberal appendages

[calcowgirl]

I forgot to say... welcome back! ;-)

[GeronL]

I moved again, I must be part gypsy

[infowarrior]

Pretty much life as usual down here in South Orange County...

Perhaps its because your striking grocery workers were in Prince Georges' County Maryland, on the other side of the country, throwing their picket line across my local Safeway. They've gone now, and I note with satisfaction that not only did shoppers cross this picket line of out-of-staters, but the local employees did, as well...

the infowarrior

[Solson]

The union should have realized what the Supermarkets are facing. They had no choice but to stand up to the union. Healthcare costs are skyrocketing and in grocery, labor is the largest cost by far. With continuing competitive pressure on Supermarkets by non-union Wal-Mart, it has no choice but to fight this to the end.

If Calpers and the unions couldn't figure this out, they haven't been listening. They all warned this would last a long time.