Sunday, February 15, 2009

London UNISON Capital Stewardship Network

A quick post about last week’s meeting of UNISON member nominated representatives (MNRs) who sit on the pension or investment committees of London Local Government Pension Schemes (LGPS).

This network is supposed to meet every 3 months and our aim is to support MNRs and share best practice. I chaired the meeting. It can be quite tough at times if you are the only trade union representative on your local pension or investment committee. Especially when you want to question professional advisors or your fund managers.

We haven’t met for a while (my fault) but last week’s lunch time meeting was I think the best attended ever? We also had 3 new reps who have only just become MNRs.

We now have a “plan” (ish). At last week meeting we worked on a draft good governance charter for all London schemes. Which should set minimum standards for governance arrangements in all London LGPS’s?

On March 12 2-5pm there will be a regional briefing on the national LGPS governance campaign and the UNISON capital stewardship programme (see flyer). This will be presented by the UNISON National Officer on Capital Stewardship, Colin Meech. While we are also planning to hold a 2 day LGPS training course in London during April. Contact Paul Thompson at the regional office about attending the March 12 briefing.

There is still a lot to do – Some London schemes do not have any MNR’s at all, while in many cases it is hard pressed branch secretaries who are suppose to attend. Frankly I think they are too busy and what we really need is a small team of trained and properly supported MNR’s in each London LGPS. It works well in some schemes outside London.

From small acorns grow...

Some previous posts on related issues here, here, here, here

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