Denmark’s LD Pensions (LD Fonde) said it has joined the Labour Rights Investor Network (LRIN), an investor coalition formed last autumn to promote the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining in companies members invest in.

The Frederiksberg-based pensions manager, whose two pension funds invest money for particular cohorts of the Danish labour force, said that since joining in January, belonging to the global forum had already helped the institution learn how to quantify its progress towards fostering change on workers’ rights at investee firms.

LD Pensions said: “As part of the Labour Rights Investor Network, we are committed to integrating labour rights considerations into our investments in collaboration with other investors.

“This is in line with our strategic goal of contributing to promoting the UN’s global goals, with a particular focus on global goal number eight, which is about securing workers’ rights,” the DKK46.5bn (€6.2bn) pensions manager said on Wednesday.

At its launch at the end of November, LRIN signatories included the New York City Employees’ Retirement System and Teachers’ Retirement System, Sweden’s Folksam and the UK’s Local Authority Pension Fund Forum.

The network is based at the Global Unions’ Committee on Workers’ Capital (CWC), which is a committee of the International Trade Union Confederation, the Global Union Federations and the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD.

Amir Hassan, ESG analyst at LD Pensions, said the first LRIN meeting he attended addressed specific cases of violations of labour rights very thoroughly.

“It gave a useful insight into how far you are in the process to get companies to change course to ensure collective bargaining and freedom of association,” he said.

“The network can contribute to improving and targeting our efforts as active owners for better working conditions,” he added.

The two pension funds LD Pensions manages are the Holiday Allowance Fund (Lønmodtagernes Feriemidler) and the Cost-of-Living Allowance Fund (Lønmodtagernes Dyrtidsmidler).

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Rachel is IPE's Nordic correspondent. She has long been a freelance writer, and over the years, has written for The Telegraph, The Independent, The Observer, AMWatch and elsewhere. In 2001, Rachel's personal finance book Kickstart Your Money was published by John Wiley & Sons.View full Profile

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