This content is from: Corner Office

The 2015 Pension 40: Randi Weingarten

No. 4 Randi Weingarten, President / American Federation of Teachers

By Tyler Davies

December 22, 2015

< The 2015 Pension 40: The Long Climb

Randi Weingarten

President /
American Federation of Teachers

Last year: 3

As president of the 1.6 million-member American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, 58, is among the most vocal supporters of defined benefit pensions, asserting that, among other positives, they spur economic development. Every dollar paid for pension benefits generates $2.25 in output, she notes. Since 2011 the AFT has partnered with other unions and the Clinton Global Initiative to invest in U.S. infrastructure. In early November the AFT launched an advertising campaign touting public pension plan investment — through a consortium, LaGuardia Gateway Partners, that includes the California State Teachers' Retirement System — in the $3.6 billion overhaul of New York’s LaGuardia Airport. “When the economy rebounds, more people should be able to take part in the American dream,” says Weingarten, who majored in labor relations at Cornell University and graduated from Yeshiva University’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law before working as a labor attorney and a high school history teacher in New York. “Part of this means getting good returns, fixing our crumbling roads and bridges, and creating good jobs.” Though AFT favors infrastructure, another investment doesn’t sit well with its president: hedge funds. “Not all hedge funds are bad,” she says. “But some are trying to kill the same plans that are investing in them.” Weingarten wants hedge fund managers seeking capital from pension plans to disclose any affiliations with organizations actively working to phase out defined benefit plans. In a recent report, the AFT spotlighted hedge fund managers’ links to organizations such as the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and StudentsFirst, a lobbying organization for charter schools.

The 2015 Pension 40