Our essential public services are being privatized, bought, reorganized, cut and transformed through processes described by many scholars and analysts as “financialization.” However, one of the largest and most influential actors in these processes, pension funds, has been largely overlooked by most analysts and political activists. 

Simultaneously, workers who are the beneficiaries of the increasingly aggressive and risky choices made by pension fund managers are experiencing reduced pension coverage and no mechanisms to question fund managers or hold them to account. Every worker deserves a secure and dignified retirement that is not based on predatory financialized exploitation.  

Trade unionists including leaders from PSI affiliates met with academics and civil society organizations at a hybrid event on March 26 that was hosted by Carleton University’s Institute of Political Economy to build alliances and develop and coordinate regional strategies. Participants examined the links between northern funds that are key to privatizing essential public services in the south including water and sanitation, energy generation and distribution and health and care.  

Euan Gibb, regional secretary for PSI Inter-America, highlighted the importance of coordinating north-south strategies to confront this dynamic and develop alternatives that guarantee retirement security that is not based on predatory financialization that undermines public services and the workers that provide them. “Looking globally and in the region, we've accompanied the growth of the involvement of public and private funds in the privatization of water and sanitation, energy, and more recently in the health sector as well. It’s really clear to me that we need to organize and structure our resistance. Instead of reacting in an ad hoc manner, we must have a clear analysis, a well-defined strategy, and solid alliances ready to mobilize. This is why the Financialization Research Lab is so important—it serves as a hub to build these connections in advance and develop collective strategies”, said Gibb. 

The event was the official launch of the Resisting Pension Fund Capitalism project, hosted by the Financialization Research Lab at Carleton University’s Institute of Political Economy. Kevin Skerrett, coordinator of the Financialization Lab, reminded participants that, "private pension funds and the asset managers they employ are, at their core, capitalist financial institutions—not social service organizations, nor charitable trusts. Their primary objective is to maximize financial returns, often through mechanisms that exploit workers, privatize public goods, and contribute to environmental degradation. The Resisting Pension Fund Capitalism project seeks to confront this contradiction by critically examining the role of pension funds in financialized capitalism and exploring alternative models that align with the goals of labour and social justice movements,” said the researcher. 

Furthermore, Canadian pension funds, in particular, have played a notably predatory role in these developments, capitalizing on opportunities to privatize public infrastructure and services wherever profitability and minimized risks allow. Jason Ward, CICTAR’s principal analyst, emphasized: "Canadian pension funds present themselves as long-term, responsible investors, yet their actions tell a different story. Instead of fostering productive capacity, they engage in financialization that is purely extractive—prioritizing short-term profits over sustainable economic and social well-being. This investment model not only erodes essential public services but also fuels financial instability, all while risking workers' retirement savings. It is neither sustainable nor responsible, and unless challenged, it will continue to have devastating consequences for societies around the world."