Randy Barber; President, Center for Economic Organizing, Washington.(P&I at 30: The difference-makers)(Brief Article)(Biography)

Byline: Arleen Jacobius

Best-known as co-author of "The North Will Rise Again: Pensions, Politics and Power in the 1980s," Randy Barber was the first to envision the potential power unions could exert through their pension funds.

In their 1978 book, Mr. Barber and Jeremy Rifkin contended that whoever controlled the investment of pension assets could determine the future of the U.S. economy. They urged labor and political leaders in the North to use union and public employee pension assets to bolster their declining economies. The strategy was a precursor to the corporate governance movement and the rise of shareholder activism. Union leaders used the book as …