10 Questions Every Union Member and Trustee Should Be Asking About Their Pension
For most workers, a pension is something you earn over decades without spending much time thinking about what happens to the money in between. A contribution comes out of each paycheck. The money goes into a pension fund. The fund invests it. Eventually, that investment is supposed to help provide a secure retirement.
Simple enough.
Until you start asking how the money moves. Who decides where it goes? What risks are being considered? Who is responsible for those decisions? What happens when an investment manager isn't doing what the fund expects? And how do workers have a say? Those questions can quickly lead into a world of investment policies, asset allocation, fiduciary duty, private markets, proxy voting, transition risk, and other language that can make pension finance feel like a closed system reserved for people with finance degrees.
It doesn't have to be. You don't need to understand every investment strategy before you can ask whether your pension fund is managing risk responsibly. You don't need to be an economist to understand that extreme weather can damage infrastructure. And you don't need to be a portfolio manager to ask how your retirement savings are being protected from long-term economic changes.
Good pension governance starts with good questions. Here are 10 questions we think every union member, trustee, and pension beneficiary should be asking:
1. Who makes decisions about my pension? Start here. Who sits on the board? Who appoints or elects them? What decisions belong to trustees, investment staff, consultants, and asset managers? Understanding who has authority is the foundation for knowing where workers can engage.
2. What is the fund's investment policy? An investment policy helps establish how a fund thinks about risk, return, and where it can invest. Ask what the policy says about long-term risks, including climate risk and workforce-related risks. If those risks aren't reflected in the fund's core investment framework, ask why.
3. How is climate risk being evaluated? Climate risk isn't only about environmental damage. It can affect infrastructure, insurance costs, supply chains, companies, industries, and entire regional economies. Ask how the fund identifies physical and transition risks and how those risks are incorporated into investment decisions.
4. How are our asset managers being held accountable? Most large pension funds don't manage every investment themselves. They hire outside asset managers to manage portions of the portfolio. So ask: What expectations does the fund set for those managers? How are they evaluated? What happens if they don't meet those expectations? Your fund's leverage doesn't disappear when it hires someone else to invest the money.
5. What are we investing in through private markets? Private equity, private credit, infrastructure, real estate, and other private-market investments can represent significant portions of public pension portfolios. These investments can be difficult to see from the outside. Ask what the fund owns, what risks are embedded in those investments, and what protections exist for workers, communities, and beneficiaries.
6. How are we using our shareholder power? Owning shares gives investors certain rights, including the ability to vote on corporate matters. Ask how the fund and its investment managers use that power. Are they supporting stronger climate-risk disclosure? Worker protections? Corporate accountability? Investment isn't only about buying and selling. Ownership comes with influence.
7. What does the fund's long-term strategy assume about the economy? Pension funds invest for decades, not quarters. That means they need to think about how industries, communities, technology, infrastructure, and the workforce may change over time. Ask whether the fund's assumptions reflect the economy workers are actually moving toward, rather than simply the economy that existed when today's investment strategy was created.
8. Are we investing in the resilience of the communities our beneficiaries depend on? A pension fund has a responsibility to protect retirement security. But retirement security doesn't exist in isolation from the economy around it. What happens when infrastructure fails? When insurance becomes unaffordable? When communities lose good jobs? When energy systems become increasingly vulnerable? Ask whether there are opportunities for pension capital to support resilient infrastructure, strong local economies, and investments that can create long-term value while benefiting the communities where workers live.
9. How can beneficiaries participate? This question is particularly important because worker engagement shouldn't begin and end with electing or appointing trustees. Ask when and where beneficiaries can testify, attend meetings, submit questions, communicate with trustees, participate in committees, or otherwise engage with the fund. Participation is part of responsible governance.
10. What happens next? This may be the most important question of all. If a worker raises a concern about climate risk, an investment manager, labor standards, or long-term strategy, what happens after the meeting? Who follows up? What information will be provided? When will the issue come back before the board? What decision point is coming next? A good question creates an opening. A follow-up creates accountability.
Questions are a Form of Worker Power
None of these questions requires a Wall Street background. They require curiosity, preparation, and an understanding that pension beneficiaries are not outsiders looking into someone else's financial system. They are participants in a system built around their retirement security.
For union members, asking these questions can be an extension of organizing work. For trustees, they can strengthen oversight. And for pension beneficiaries more broadly, they can help turn a system that often feels like a black box into something more understandable and accountable.
The goal is to make sure workers have the knowledge and confidence to ask the people managing their capital: What are you doing with our money, what risks are you seeing, and how are you protecting our future?
