This exclusively union-based strategy (the fund has never resorted to commissioning professional investment dealers and brokers) has allowed the Fonds de solidarité to enjoin a very high proportion of organized workers. In 1994, 65 percent of shareholders were members of either the FTQ or another union body.
A growing source of share-buying in the Fonds de solidarité is managed through payroll deduction. Under Québec law, employers must remit deductions to the fund if a group of workers (the lesser of fifty or 20 percent of the total workforce) so request. In addition, employers can purchase shares for employees as a benefit, if such results from collective bargaining. Today, there are 2,245 deduction provisions negotiated in collective agreements. Of these, 711 reflect employer-paid benefits.
Québec regulators tend to intervene in fund solicitation and subscription only on the basis of individual consumer complaints.
Québec's statutory framework generally gives the Fonds de solidarité considerable latitude to pursue growth-oriented investment activity. For instance, unlike most labour-sponsored funds, it is permitted to invest in small and medium-sized enterprises in all Québec industries and sectors, including the financial sector. Also, in view of its goal to protect existing employment through firm rescues and restructurings, the fund is able to enter minority or majority control situations with relative freedom.
The Québec government has stipulated that 60 percent of net assets of the Fonds de solidarité, based on a calculation of the previous year's average, be placed in eligible investments.
In accordance with legislative specifications and its private mandate, the Fonds de solidarité has determined the following criteria for investment purposes: