SSgA Funds has introduced the IAM SHARES Fund, one of the first mutual funds to invest primarily in publicly-traded shares of International Association of Machinists (IAM)-represented companies. The IAM has almost three-quarters of a million working and retired members throughout North America.

The SSgA IAM SHARES Fund will invest approximately two thirds of its assets in IAM-represented companies. Currently, 232 companies meet the IAM's qualifications of being publicly traded, sufficiently capitalized, and within the acceptable limits of market volatility. Generally, no single company will represent more than 5% of the entire portfolio.

"More than 5,000 companies in North America today employ IAM members," said Gus Fish, Principal, State Street Global Advisors. "In conjunction with the Union leadership, we have created an innovative investment designed to empower union members by giving them an opportunity to invest in companies that employ IAM members."

Although the new fund is the first to invest specifically in IAM-related companies, MFS recently launched a similar fund, the MFS Union Standard Equity Fund (MUSEX).

The IAM represents 734,000 working and retired members and is the AFL-CIO's largest union, representing workers in the air transportation, aerospace and defense industries. The IAM has collective bargaining agreements with 5,000 employers, including larger corporations like Boeing and United Airlines, as well as hundreds of small and medium sized companies.

"The IAM is proud to take a leadership role in creating investment vehicles that support companies that employ our members," said R. Thomas Buffenbarger, President of IAM. "And as a diversified portfolio, the SSgA IAM SHARES Fund should provide our members with an excellent investment. The initiation of the Fund is compatible with our goal of harnessing the power of our members' investments to better serve them and strengthen and encourage the growth of our union."

The SSgA IAM SHARES Fund will be offered first as a savings plan option to all the employees of IAM-represented companies that contributed to jointly trusteed pension plans. Later in the year, IAM-represented companies that have defined benefit pension plans will be offered the SSgA IAM SHARES Fund as an option to their savings plan. 

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