The Trowel Trades S&P 500 Index Fund:
A Timely
Response to Today’s Headlines
During 2002, corporate practices
opposed by BAC and its Trowel Trades S&P 500 Index Fund
finally made the headlines. Following Enron, the public learned
first hand the damage caused by business practices that benefit
corporate executives at the expense of company shareholders
and employees.
The only silver lining in the recent storm
of business scandals that have shocked the general public
and devastated the investment
community is that institutional investors like the Trowel
Trades S&P 500 Index Fund now have an unprecedented
opportunity to reform Corporate America. BAC pension funds
that participate
in the BAC Proxy Voting Service and/or invest in the Trowel
Trades S&P 500 Index Fund are using their investment
clout to push for greater corporate accountability to make
sure that BAC pension funds do not fall victim to these
questionable corporate practices.
The shareholder proposals
the Index Fund has filed for
2003 reflect today’s headlines: companies that reincorporate
overseas to avoid paying taxes; corporations who pay their “independent” accounting
firms higher fees for other services than audit work, causing
the auditor to look the other way in reviewing the companies
finances; boards of directors that shift voting rights
away from shareholders by adopting “poison pills.” The
Index Fund and the BAC Proxy Voting Service also use the
opportunity to educate companies on why it is in the best
interest of shareholders to use union contractors and members
on construction projects.
The Trowel Trades
S&P
500
The Trowel Trades S&P 500 Index is an investment
vehicle designed for BAC pension and annuity funds. The
Index Fund offers BAC funds a competitive investment
vehicle, with significantly lower fees than other comparable
investment options, as well as a means to increase BAC’s
clout in corporate America. Unlike other index funds,
the Trowel Trades Index Fund uses its shareholder power
and shareholder votes to further the interests of BAC
members.
BAC Proxy Voting Service
The BAC Proxy Voting Service helps to ensure that members’ pension
contributions are invested in companies that work in
their interests, not against them. It also educates
corporations on the benefits to their bottom-line of
using BAC signatory contractors and members on their
construction projects. |
The
International Pension Fund and an increasing number
of Local funds are already
taking advantage of both of these programs by allocating
a portion of their plan assets to the Index Fund and
signing up for the Proxy Voting Service.
For more information
on the BAC Proxy Voting Service or the Trowel Trade
S&P 500 Index Fund, please contact
BAC Secretary-Treasurer James Boland. |
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