(posted on AgeWage Nov 22 2025)
An article by Dooley Harte Pension Official UCU
In this piece Dooley analyses the links between pension investments and companies complicit with the destruction in Gaza. Focussing on USS he asks why USS has not followed the example of some other European pension funds and divested from ‘Israeli institutions, Israeli companies and other companies complicit in the ongoing genocide in Gaza’.
Dooley states that when questioned by UCU as to why it has not divested from these complicit companies, USS’s response is that they have a fiduciary duty to get the best financial outcomes for members. He goes on to explore the changing interpretation of fiduciary duty in particular that members’ views should be given more weight in investment decisions.
He concludes that pension schemes including USS need to review their investments and uphold international law rather than hide behind a simplistic interpretation of fiduciary duty.
The article can be read here