Short Takes: State Street Unit Starts Union-Friendly Fund

State Street Global Advisors, the investment unit of Boston-based State Street Corp., launched a union-oriented mutual fund this week.

The SSgA IAM Shares Fund is to invest two-thirds of its assets in stocks of companies that employ members of the International Association of Machinists.

There are 232 such companies, including Boeing and United Airlines, said Gus Fish, the principal of State Street Global Advisors responsible for the SSgA Funds. IAM Shares is the first mutual fund that State Street Global Advisors has customized for an affinity group, Mr. Fish said.

With 734,000 working and retired members, the International Association of Machinists is the AFL-CIO's largest union, representing workers in the air transportation, aerospace, and defense industries. SSgA IAM Shares will first be offered as an option for pension and other defined-benefit plans sponsored by companies employing IAM members.

The union fund is not State Street Global Advisors' first product catering to labor; it also administers a multiemployer 401(k) plan with the Teamsters' union.

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