Union Renewal through Involvement in the Financial Sector

The involvement of union actors in pension fund management has been the subject of numerous studies in Canada and the United States. These studies have led to contrasting results. Some observers deplore these initiatives since they mitigate union action and values. Others, on the contrary, see such involvement as an opportunity to broaden the role of union representation. Beyond the polarity of their results, these studies analyze the components and outcome of this innovation, but do not address its process of construction, that is, why and how union actors get involved in the financial sector, and how this innovation fits in with the goals of union renewal.

This article thus addresses these questions through the concept of institutional entrepreneur (Campbell, 2004), considering the union actor as an entrepreneur at work, piecing together various actions in order to effect change. The case study examines a Quebec institution, the Comité syndical national de retraite de Bâtirente, created by the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (Confederation of National Trade Unions, CNTU) in 1987 with the mission of providing a pension plan to members of this labour confederation. Based on a series of interviews and the content analysis of several documents dealing with Bâtirente, our results show that this institution was created by and for members in collaboration with this labour confederation. At first, Bâtirente did not differ greatly from other investors in the world of finance. It operated in the same way, seeking above all to fulfill its mission and become a legitimate actor in this sector. Gradually, however, acting as an institutional entrepreneur, Bâtirente began to innovate by asserting its union allegiance, introducing environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria into its management practices, carrying out concrete actions (e.g., voting on shareholders proposals) and, lastly, participating indirectly in union renewal.

Key words: union, institutional entrepreneur, union representation, responsible finance, pension fund