Canadian pension fund assets are second in size only to the combined financial assets of the major banks and have become a critical source of capital for national and international markets. Given their tax-exempt status, pension funds can provide the long-term capital needed to build a new economy based on real productivity. The funds are controlled by an intricate web of financial and legal standards but, as deferred wages, are largely beyond the control of workers or their unions.

In Pension Power, Isla Carmichael argues that unions couldand shouldhave a new role to play in the...