“We have made our position clear:
University Pension Plan, UPP Statement on the Crisis in Ukraine and Russian Investment (2022)
violations of international law have
no place in UPP’s portfolio.”
The Workers’ Campaign for UPP Divestment demands that the University Pension Plan (UPP) uphold its own Responsible Investing Policy and adhere to the norms of international law by ending its investment in entities which perpetuate gross human rights violations, including genocide, apartheid, and occupation. We further demand that this policy be applied consistently in the case of all nation-states, with no exception for businesses domiciled in the United States or Israel.
We demand:
1. Divestment from military industries, including but not limited to Israel’s military.
2. Divestment from illegal occupation, including but not limited to Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine.
3. An exclusion on new investments in the above.
Who We Are
We are workers from unions and faculty associations across Ontario which pay into the University Pension Plan. Organizers include, at the University of Toronto, members of USW 1998, CUPE 3902, CUPE 1230, and the University of Toronto Faculty Association (UTFA); at the University of Guelph, members of CUPE 3913 and the University of Guelph Faculty Association (UGFA); and at Trent University, members of the Trent University Faculty Association (TUFA). We follow in the grassroots tradition of internationalist worker solidarity by upholding the principle of divestment.
We respond to the 2005 call launched by Palestinian civil society for the non-violent punitive measures of boycott, divestment and sanctions of Israel to be maintained “until Israel meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law” (the BDS Movement).
We further demand that UPP hold all nations to the same standards, with no exceptions for businesses domiciled in “Western” nations, nor for those which facilitate genocide and occupation in Sudan, the Congo, and elsewhere.
Land Acknowledgement
At the Workers’ Campaign for UPP Divestment, we would like to acknowledge that the lands on which our members live and work are the traditional territories of the Anishinaabeg, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Seneca, Métis, and the Mississaugas of the Credit, residing within the Dish with One Spoon wampum. We are mindful of and would like to emphasize that colonialism is an ongoing process. We aim to fight for the rights of the Palestinian people, as with all indigenous peoples, to live freely on the land according to their desired cultural practices. Additionally, we stand firmly with all those working to kill Bill 5, which violates the agreed-upon treaties, and to return the decision rights to the land here in Ontario to its rightful stewards.
We are grateful to all indigenous peoples for their care for, and teachings about, our earth and our relations. May we honour those teachings, and may we stand and act in solidarity with Palestinian workers’ demands in this campaign.
Endorsements
