AFL-CIO hits corporate pensions

Major employee pension plans are often used to finance foreign plants and antiunion companies, an AFL-CIO study concluded Thursday. The study also said that when pension funds are invested, the financial return lags behind even normal bank interest rates.

Howard D. Samuel, president of the federation's Industrial Union Department and a former deputy undersecretary of labor, said that the 106- page report indicated "disputing evidence of a vast concentration of decisionmaking in a very few hands" and lack of consideration for workers.

"These company-controlled funds may not only have poor earning records, thereby minimizing the benefits available to the employees, but the assets of the funds studied ares surprisingly enough being used to take away jobs of employees," Mr. Samuel said.

The report was based on a study of 10 large industrial companies and 192 benefit plans for workers covered by collective bargaining of government-related plans.

The companies studied are Campbell Soup, GAF Corporation, General Electric, Gould Inc., National Gypsium, National Cash Register, NL Industries, Stauffer Chemical, Tenneco, and Texas Instruments.