State workers in Washington — among them a bus driver, a teacher, and a range of other public employees — held a demonstration outside the Washington State Investment Board, calling on the state to bring its pension fund allocations into line with ethical standards they outlined. One attendee who identified as Palestinian — connected to a worker at the organisation — did not receive a turn at the microphone, with the board having capped public participation at 45 speakers. During the remaining window of time, the bus driver extended an invitation for him to come forward and share his account.
At a board meeting, the public transit driver put forward the position that retirement funds belonging to government employees in the state not be directed toward companies whose products and operations have been linked to armed conflict around the world. That stance aligned with a divestment effort called "Cut Ties with Genocide," backed by Washington for Peace and Justice and Jewish Voice for Peace Seattle. The board currently holds long-term investment positions in both Lockheed Martin and Palantir.
A $204 million ownership position held by the board in the defence manufacturer underpins production of the F-35 fighter aircraft, a platform that has seen operational use by Israel over Gaza. Ninety Palestinians were killed when aircraft released 2,000-pound munitions over an area that had been designated for civilian shelter in Khan Younis during the spring of 2024.
A separate stock position — valued at roughly $73 million — ties back to Palantir, a company whose data-analytics technology has been contracted by border enforcement bodies and folded into wider government surveillance networks. Pooled across the state's retirement system, those public contributions form part of a $230 billion fund that underwrites pension benefits for more than 600,000 workers.
Pension recipients taking part in the demonstration connected their action to a coordinated effort unfolding across the country. Retirement fund trustees representing Baltimore educators, Maine pensioners, and New York City pension workers have faced calls from members to withdraw holdings tied to Israeli government bonds, arms manufacturers, and other companies flagged over human rights concerns.
Pension and investment holdings tied to corporations operating in South Africa became targets for withdrawal by public-sector workers throughout the United States, who coordinated those efforts alongside the UAW and SEIU during the anti-apartheid movement — an approach that later organising drives have looked to as a template.
Attendees pressed for investment oversight rooted in accountability and transparency, contending that portfolios guided by ethical principles can deliver returns on par with — or exceeding — those from the defence sector, and that pension and public money not flow toward ventures whose outcomes rest on harm to people.
