Unions’ Deals With Brokers Raise Issues

The New York state attorney general’s office is close to announcing a settlement with the 525,000-member New York State United Teachers over a relationship between the union and ING Group, a large financial-services company based in the Netherlands.

In that arrangement, the union’s Member Benefits division—a separate trust that provides voluntary, supplemental benefits to members—receives $3 million a year, about $6 per member, from ING. In exchange, the union recommends the company’s products, mostly annuities, to NYSUT members.

The union, in a statement, says the fee is used to “enhance” retirement and other benefits already offered to members, as well as to cover the costs of running the retirement plan. But the attorney general questions whether union leaders had disclosed the relationship to their members, and if they are looking out...