Dear UTFA Colleagues,

Last Thursday, May 8th, UTFA held a member-initiated General Meeting with a petitioners’ motion on University Pension Plan (UPP) divestment from the manufacture of weapons used to commit or facilitate war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other serious violations of international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and elsewhere. The large turnout of our members and the intensity of the debate underscore that we have a membership that is vibrantly engaged.

The main motion passed by a 52% majority of nearly 1400 voters. The full text of the motion and the full voting results are available below.

We have now posted the motion on UTFA’s website, shared it with the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) and the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA), and sent it to the Chief Executive Officer and Board Chair of the UPP. We will also be conveying the motion to the University Administration and other employee groups within the UPP. In the context of a broader effort to update and modernize the UTFA constitution, the Executive will also debrief on what we learned as political officers (and staff) from hosting a member-initiated general meeting, which UTFA has not previously held. We are already learning from our members' communications where our rules fell short, including the need to improve access to information and voting.

Given the diversity of our members’ views, throughout this process the Executive prioritized ensuring that the General Meeting was consistent with UTFA's  Constitution and was as accessible, transparent, and fair as possible within our rules-based association.

Stay tuned. Look for an email shortly inviting you to UTFA’s workshops on tenure/continuing status/and continuing appointment review processes. And we will also be reaching out very soon as we enter another phase of bargaining with the Administration.

Sincerely,
The UTFA Executive

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Voting: 1365

In Favour: 714 (52%)

Opposed: 585 (43%) 

Abstentions: 66 (5%)

The Motion:

BE IT RESOLVED that, consistent with (a) UPP’s current exclusion of direct and indirect investments in entities producing certain kinds of weapons prohibited by treaties to which Canada is a party, in all entities domiciled in Russia, and in entities causing or contributing to adverse social impacts that are sufficiently egregious (see Investment Exclusion, p. 8); and (b) UPP’s statement that “breaches of international law have no place in UPP’s portfolio”, UTFA call on the UPP to

1.  Announce and implement an immediate screen on any new investments in, and a rapid timeline for complete divestment, from all direct and indirect holdings in entities that manufacture or distribute arms, ammunition, implements or munitions of war, where there are reasonable grounds to suspect they may be used by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and elsewhere where they could be used to commit or facilitate

i.        a serious violation of international humanitarian law,

ii.       a serious violation of international human rights law,

iii.     an act constituting an offence under international conventions or protocols relating to terrorism to which Canada is a party,

iv.      an act constituting an offence under international conventions or protocols relating to transnational organized crime to which Canada is a party, or

v.       serious acts of gender-based violence or serious acts of violence against women and children;

2.  Announce and implement an immediate screen on any new investments in, and a rapid timeline for complete divestment from, all direct and indirect holdings in entities engaged in activities that support or sustain Israel’s illegal occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and those that support or sustain an illegal occupation of any other territory, including Russia’s occupation of the Crimean peninsula; and

3.  Incorporate these divestment commitments into its Investment Exclusion policy; 

And it is further RESOLVED that UTFA

4.  Direct its representative on the UPP Employee Sponsor Committee to advocate for this resolution within the UPP and provide regular updates to Council and Executive members on the status of its implementation.