Private equity investment in the United States has recently come under attack from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).  The motives for these attacks are bizarre, though not out of character.  And like so many of the hit jobs advanced by unions in the recent past — seemingly more out of desperation than for the benefit of workers — the SEIU's latest broadsides are misleading and, frankly, hypocritical. 

Few could argue the fact that capital investment is precisely what creates new jobs and the kind of growth that directly benefits service employees and other workers over the long haul.  That fact is not even lost on the SEIU itself, which manages pension funds for its membership that, on average, invest five to ten percent of their assets in private equity funds.  So why are the SEIU and its zealous leader, Andy Stern, obsessed with launching frivolous attacks, which are focused not on the real issues that typically concern union members such as wages or working conditions, but rather on extraneous criticisms designed to smear individual companies supported by private equity?

For the sake of pointing out the obvious, the short answer is this:  The SEIU isn't interested in the behavior of the specific companies it is targeting at all.  Nor is it interested in the capital gains tax treatment of private equity investors that has been the misguided focus of revenue-hungry politicians in Washington of late.  No, the SEIU is most interested in strengthening its own power by bullying the owners of these companies into permitting restrictions on the freedoms of individual workers, such as compulsory dues, card-check agreements and monopoly bargaining privileges. 

Such well-organized smear campaigns funded by membership dues are merely a deceptive "top-down" strategy to force successful job creators to acquiesce to the union's demands. The age-old tactic, in this most recent context, goes something like this: Attack other companies in investors' portfolios in order to gain leverage in negotiations for the real prize — large health care chains owned by private equity firms.  If the largest of these capitulate and hand over employees for compulsory unionization, smaller health care providers across the country will fall in line. 

That strong-arm tactic, unfortunately, is all-too-typical of the SEIU under Stern's rein.  Many have noted the hundreds of bogus complaints filed with the National Labor Relations Board and numerous frivolous lawsuits and antitrust accusations — not because the SEIU thought the charges would stick, but rather to make life miserable for their opponents until they backed down. 

The latest round of red herrings directed at private equity firms must not be given a legitimate forum.  At a time when the U.S. economy is heading further toward recession, giving the SEIU's frivolous assault lip service would only discourage domestic investing at exactly the time America's economy needs it most.  

Indeed, capital investment is exactly what's needed during this time of economic slowdown.  Private equity funds consistently outperform publicly-owned companies and encourage the kind of entrepreneurial risk that is hard to find during market slowdowns. These investments often help launch new companies, save struggling ones, spur innovation and add value to the economy. They also are long-term investments that are more likely to expend capital on infrastructure, research and new jobs.

In fact, many other unions are beginning to realize that their quixotic battles with job creators are backfiring — squeezing employers so hard that they are driving them toward bankruptcy and eliminating American jobs.  Nowhere is this more apparent than in the auto industry, where the UAW supported a private equity-backed buyout last year of Chrysler. 

What America needs now is freedom in the marketplace that encourages investors to put capital into our economy; it does not need powerful unions driving more businesses into the ground.