New Report on the Impact of Private Equity Firms

March 19, 2008

A new report released by SEIU’s Behind the Buyouts campaign raises important new concerns about the outsize impact of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) – a large private equity buyout firm – on our nation’s economic health, environment, product safety, and workers’ basic civil rights.

KKR portfolio companies employ more than 800,000 workers, a private workforce second in size only to Wal-Mart’s among U.S. companies. The report – “Winners and Losers: Fallout from KKR’s Race for Profit” – documents problems at KKR portfolio companies including:

• Accusations of employment discrimination,
• Citations for workplace safety violations,
• Recalls of lead-tainted children’s toys, and
• The emission of potentially dangerous chemicals into community environments.


KKR and its CEO Henry Kravis symbolize what’s wrong with corporate America and put a face on the struggles that unite us as a union. The actions of KKR affect SEIU members every day: 


• More than 200,000 of KKR’s workers are in SEIU industries. 
• KKR owns six major for-profit healthcare companies. 
• Eleven different pension funds of SEIU public services members have more than $5 billion invested in KKR. 
• KKR-owned companies subcontract with companies that employ tens of thousands of security officers, janitors and other property services workers at their facilities. 
• Henry Kravis and a handful of top executives at KKR reap obscene profits while hundreds of thousands of workers at the companies they own have no voice on the job and see little improvement in wages, health coverage, and retirement security. 

We will join together at the SEIU Convention in June to hold KKR accountable for its actions and make it a more responsible corporate citizen.

For more information or to learn more about KKR, read the new report and visit www.behindthebuyouts.org