Steel Labour - Winter 1999 - by Jamie Swift

INVESTMENT NEWS

First Ontario Fund there for workers, when the banks were nowhere insight
by Jamie Swift

BELLEVILLE, Ontario Patience is a virtue. There's nothing new in that but the truth of this old saying was underlined to the 50 foundry workers in Belleville, Ontario last year. That's when the Steelworker-sponsored First Ontario Fund came in with a just-in-time investment that kept their employer afloat. It was no thanks to the big banks.

"The banks are very rigid," says Bob Mallard, president of Quint Castings, a company that also operates a Niagara-area foundry. "They have a little box and you have to fit into it. The banks are too impatient."

Plug not pulled after all
So impatient that they threatened to pull the plug on Quint's growing business. Then last March the First Ontario Fund stepped in with a $2.5-million investment that allowed union workers in Belleville and St. Catharines to keep working.

"The investment enabled us to keep business that would have gone overseas to India, Mexico or China," says Mallard, whose company uses 100 per cent recycled metal to produce pump cases and other equipment for heavy industry. "The First Ontario Fund came along and offered us patient money. If you have the right business plan, they're willing to wait so that you can turn the corner."

Better rate of return
First Ontario's patience has also paid off for the thousands of union members who have invested their RRSP money in the $31-million (and growing) fund.

LSIFs -an 'ethical' alliance
Before getting involved with a company seeking. LSIF support the union funds that make up the Labour-Sponsored Investment Funds (LSIF) Alliance have committed themselves to both an evaluation of a firm's health, safety and environ-mental record as well as its commitment to ethical employment practices. All five funds have received the 'RECOMMENDED' stamp of approval from the 1998 Canadian Ethical Money Guide.

With a pool of capital that tops $2.9 billion, the funds in the Alliance have invested in more than 1,150 companies in Canada. These investments have resulted in the creation or maintenance of more than 70,000 Canadian jobs.

The members of the LSIF Alliance include The First Ontario Fund, sponsored by the Service Employees International Union, the Steelworkers, the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers, the Power Workers Union and the Ontario Worker Co-operative Federation.

You can reach First Ontario by calling 1-800-777-7506.

Here are the other funds supported by Steelworkers across Canada, along with a number where you can reach them:

• The Crocus Fund, sponsored by the Manitoba Federation of Labour.
  1-800-361-7777
• Fonds de Solidarite'/ Solidarity Fund, sponsored by the Quebec Federation of Labour.
  1-800-567-3663
• Workers Investment Fund, sponsored by the New Brunswick Federation of Labour.
  1-800-456-0199
• Working Opportunity Fund, sponsored by seven British Columbia unions.
  1-800-536-3863