Major Union Questions PA Pension Fund, Calls on PSERS to Protect Workers, Retirees

HARRISBURG, Pa., July 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Eileen Connelly,
Executive Director of the Service Employees International Union's
Pennsylvania State Council, today called on the Pennsylvania School
Employees' Retirement System (PSERS) to protect retiree pension dollars and
workers' rights by steering clear of an investment management firm
affiliated with Lazard, Ltd., a troubled firm whose affiliates have lost
money for PSERS annuitants and whose past is replete with union-busting and
scandals.

On June 23, PSERS' Board of Trustees announced that it would entrust a
Lazard affiliate with $350 million of PSERS participants' retirement
assets. The Board did so despite the poor performance of its Lazard-managed
investments. PSERS's sole investment with a Lazard-affiliated entity -- as
a investor in a real estate fund called "Lazard-Freres Strategic Realty
Investors Fund II" -- has consistently underperformed and failed to meet
performance benchmarks.

That Lazard fund's largest asset is Atria Senior Living, a national
assisted living provider which operates more than 130 facilities in 26
states, including 4 in Pennsylvania. Elderly residents and workers have
cited wide-ranging concerns at Lazard's Atria, such as poor patient care,
poverty wages for employees and skyrocketing rent increases. Legislators in
multiple states have called on Atria to stop gouging residents and respect
its employees. Instead, Lazard's Atria has retaliated against low-wage,
predominantly minority workers struggling to form a union to improve their
pay and the quality of resident care.

Connelly committed to mobilizing SEIU and other union members, many of
whom have their retirement savings in PSERS, to call on the fund board to
take action. The letter is the first step in a campaign to convince PSERS
to reflect the values of its members and retirees. SEIU plans to
communicate directly with Pennsylvania teachers around this issue and
mobilize its members that participate in PSERS to protest the fund's
dealings with Lazard at PSERS' Board Meeting on August 14, 2008.

More information on SEIU's efforts, Lazard's history, and a copy of the
letter: http://www.LazardUnveiled.org.

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[Via Healthcare]