Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- British trade unions plan to lobby pension fund trustees overseeing 300 billion pounds ($587 billion) against investing in buyout funds as the labor movement steps up its campaign against ``casino capitalists.''

The Trade Union Congress will write to 1,000 U.K. pension trustees to alert them to the social costs of investing in private equity, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said in prepared remarks for a speech at London's City University today. Workers lose out on pay, pensions and job security at companies saddled with debt used by their private-equity owners, he said.

``Casino capitalists are enjoying huge personal windfalls from deals at the same time as they gamble with other people's futures,'' Barber said. ``Private equity can steer clear of the responsibilities a public company has to live up to.''

Unions across Europe are calling on governments to regulate an industry they say is secretive and unregulated just as private-equity firms prepare their biggest deal in the region. London-based CVC Capital Partners Ltd. is weighing a bid for J Sainsbury Plc. A purchase would give CVC and its partners, which aren't required to disclose their investors or returns, control of a company in the FTSE-100 Index for the first time.

Private-equity funds ``disclose as little as possible about what they are doing, and why,'' Barber said. ``On issues like employment practices and corporate social responsibility, the silence is usually deafening.''

Officials from 40 countries will meet in Paris next month to discuss private-equity firms. They plan to lobby German Chancellor Angela Merkel before she chairs a summit of the Group of Eight leading industrial nations in June.

In Britain, where companies owned by private-equity firms employ about 3 million people, the GMB union urged lawmakers in Tony Blair's Labour party this month to end the tax relief on interest payments for debt that LBO firms use to fund takeovers.

To contact the reporter on this story: Edward Evans in London at at eevans3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 20, 2007 13:03 EST