CtW Investment Group Stands in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter

The CtW Investment Group joins with the voices protesting attacks on Black lives like those of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor and every other Black life that has been lost or threatened as a result of our history of systemic racism and implicit bias.  We support immediate and sustained change.  

For over a decade, we have worked with union affiliated pension funds to challenge the status quo at major corporations, to encourage diversity and inclusion, and to hold companies accountable for corrupt and irresponsible practices. But we recognize that going forward our work needs to more forcefully challenge the structures of racial and economic inequality that dominate corporate America and endanger Black lives.  

Fairness and equality in the workplace, and in our society more broadly, will not be realized if they continue to elude Black workers.  As stewards of capital that has been accumulated by Black workers, who have historically been denied the ability to accumulate wealth through housing, lending, and employment discrimination, we have a responsibility to demand systemic changes among companies.  Well beyond corporate donations, we need to insist that the companies in which our pension funds invest undertake comprehensive internal changes to address the systemic racism that is often reinforced by corporate institutions that exclude Black voices, that undervalue and disrespect the essential work performed predominantly by Black and brown workers, and that deny or impede workers from fully exercising their human rights to organize, speak out, and demand change.  We believe that addressing these issues is important not only for their own sake, but as a way to enhance the long-term shareholder value of companies in our funds' portfolios.

We, like many others, have listening and learning to do and will be looking at what steps we can take internally to help combat racial inequality.  But it is imperative that we address the inequities within our system, including the disproportionate economic and public health impact of Covid-19 on Black and brown communities, and work towards addressing these issues head on.  In the coming weeks, we are committed to use our voice to engage with companies and join in other calls to action within the investor community in order to promote racial and economic justice and to dismantle the structural imbalances that have existed for far too long in corporate America.