The guardian of the nation’s third-largest public pension fund has voiced concern over FairPoint Communications’ negotiating practices with unionized workers in northern New England.
New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is sole trustee of the New York State Common Retirement Fund, which invests in FairPoint through a hedge fund. In a letter to fund manager Angelo, Gordon & Co., DiNapoli expressed concern over allegations that FairPoint negotiated in bad faith this summer with its northern New England workers.
The National Labor Relations Board is investigating union complaints that FairPoint violated federal labor law through “bad faith conduct intended to frustrate negotiations.” The charges were leveled by the Northern New England chapter of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Communications Workers of America, which represent about 2,000 workers in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.
“We would like to understand whether these reports are accurate and the circumstances surrounding this situation,” DiNapoli wrote. “Accordingly, I ask that you take all actions appropriate to your role as a substantial shareholder in FairPoint to assure … that FairPoint is treating its workers fairly and in compliance with the law.”
In addition to owning almost 20 percent of FairPoint stock, Angelo, Gordon & Co. has a designee on FairPoint’s board of directors, according to the release.
“In our experience as a long-term institutional investor, where a company has a constructive relationship with its workers and provides sustainable retirement benefits, the company becomes a stronger, more profitable, and more enduring enterprise,” DiNapoli wrote.
In August, FairPoint declared contract negotiations at an impasse. At that time, the company unilaterally instituted its own preferred contract terms, including a freeze of wages and pensions and reduction of employer contributions to workers’ health insurance coverage.
The unions previously authorized a strike, but have called on members to continue working. FairPoint is recruiting strike workers in the event of a work stoppage.
The state of Vermont owns at least 1,000 shares of FairPoint through its pension funds. The holding constitutes about $16,000 in a total pension portfolio valued at $4 billion.
