#Lab13 While Labour was resuming its historic mission to save Capitalism - from itself

I have now had over a week to reflect (and recover) on the highs and lows from the Labour Conference 2013 (and also to enjoy the faux outrage of the Tories and some big businesses).

The high of the conference was I think the re-balance of British Labour politics however so slightly to "the left".

What Ed Miliband is proposing is a small but still significant shift away from a view that capitalism always "knows best" towards a more hard headed, pragmatic and interventionist stance.

But nothing has really happened to scare the horses. Do not forget that most Tories believe in an active role for the state. With only their most reactionary swivel eyed loons calling for the privatisation of the Royal family or the Brigade of Guards (mind you there were few of these in Manchester last week).

It is a question of balance. The evidence of the financial crisis of 2007 is surely that left to itself, capitalism will destroy itself (and us with it). 

There was also some excellent fringes and debates on the conference floor. It was great to meet up with people from all over the UK and talk "politics".

While on the downside I experienced yet another MP having a strop because I didn't know he was a MP and had innocently asked what he was doing at conference? At a late night reception a certain journalist refused to speak to me because he claimed that I had misquoted him in a post. He then did a very poor Jimmy Cagney impersonation before flouting off.

I also witnessed some incredible rudeness by extremely self important individuals whose size of their ego's made me wonder how on earth they managed to walk through doorways?

Yet such incidents were very much in the minority and the vast majority of Party members, delegates and visitors behaved impeccably and were a joy to be with. My MP Lyn Brown was asked by a delegate at the London reception where she was from and she replied "Oh, I'm from West Ham CLP".

I think this conference is a game changer that has enhanced the standing of Ed Miliband.  Probably the greatest inverted compliment is that the only reason the Daily Mail launched its recent disgusting attack on his dead father is because they see Ed as a future Labour Prime Minister.

Roll on 2015.

(picture of the traditional singing of "The Red Flag" at  close of conference)

#Lab13 Welfare Reform: Coping with Change?

Lunchtime conference fringe on welfare reform, chaired by Helen Simpson from Circle Housing Group. First up was East Ham MP and Shadow Minister for Employment, Stephen Timms speaking about the Labour plan to tackle welfare by job guarantees for the long term unemployed. He sees housing associations as playing a key role in this as a gateway for unemployed tenants into work.

A future Labour Government will get rid of the bedroom tax. Which is a punishment for people over something they can do nothing about. When he goes canvassing in East Ham he meets people in fear of the Bedroom tax. Which will mean more people leaving social housing for the private sector and costing even more in housing benefit than they did in the social sector. There is a complete debacle over the introduction of universal credit. While the principle ok the implementation needs to be rescued.  We need a contributory element to benefits to rebuild trust in social security.

Sian Williams from London East End Toynbee Hall (Clement Attlee and William Beveridge) pointed out that it was not just beneficiaries who will be struggling to cope with the change - so will local authorities, Government and the 3rd sector. The cuts and caps will mean less money and more administration. There are some good points, such as it may result in a better relationship with providers, if beneficiaries are seen as customers. But massive costs to society such as forcing children to move schools. 

Christopher Smith also from Circle, told us that they had 3500 households impacted by bedroom tax and 200 by total benefit cap. Big fear that direct payment of housing benefit will result in greater arrears.  36% of households have a member who is disabled (this in in their general needs properties - not care projects). Some residents will be losing £300-350per week in London (Old Ford and Circle 33 properties). The new benefit universal credit is supposed to be "digital by default" yet 45% of residents report that they have no internet access.

Since April this year to date 24% of households affected had paid a part of their bedroom tax, 25% have paid nothing.  This is quote "a major challenge". Finally, Universal credit may bring about a risk based approach to new tenants. If arrears continues then it will have an impact on their ability to build new homes.

Last speaker was journalist Sunny Hundal who gave a more philosophical prospective about welfare reform. 1. People don't pay attention to detail 2. They don't care about facts and prefer emotional stories 3. Views on welfare are very difficult to shift.

People still think Tories are hard while Labour soft on welfare. They support only what affects them eg pensions, child care but not unemployment benefit. Labour should be more honest and not pretend to be tougher than Tories since people will just not believe them. There is a future for universal services such as Surestart but not handouts.

My question to panel started off as a statement (doesn't everyone?) that Labour should be more honest about welfare and explain that a decent social security safety net for all does cost more money that that all of us need to pay more taxes not just the very rich.

I also asked where was the voice of tenants in this debate? You have the voice here of the Labour Party, the unions, housing associations and the housing great and the good? If tenants had a voice would the Tories had been able to get away with Bedroom tax? (as usual with my questions, I didn't get an answer but time was short as we all had to rush off to hear Ed's speech).

#Lab13 Fire fighters strike over pensions

 

Outside the conference hall at lunchtime there were striking fire fighters handing out leaflets explaining why they are going on strike this afternoon over pensions. The fire service is planning to raise retirement ages and contributions. It is of course completely ludicrous to expect such emergency workers to work until they are 60. Picture of UNISON Stockport Branch chair Mark Rayner showing support and sharing a joke at the picket line at King Street station. I am now sitting next to his wife Angela during Ed Miliband's Q&A.   

#Lab13 Denis Healey and Stand Up for Labour

By Monday evening I needed a break from conference fringes and bought a ticket to see the "Stand Up for Labour". On the publicity for the show I had noticed that it had a "Denis Healey" billed to appear. I assumed that this was someone impersonating the former Labour Chancellor and deputy leader.

I never expected for a moment to see that it was actually the Denis Healey who was the first act. He read out limericks to the audience.

He was looking a little frail but appeared to be enjoying himself while performing. It was his 96th birthday recently so as he went off the stage all the audience sang "happy birthday to you".

The whole show was great fun and I would recommend Stand Up for Labour.  The show finished off with Andy Burham MP, who told a modified version of the classic joke about a man going into a pub with a parrot on his shoulder. I won't reveal the details in case he wants to use it again.

#Lab13 Pensions and Capital Stewardship

This is the speech I made on Monday afternoon

Conference, now for something a little different. For most of us the world of pensions and investments is baffling and obscure. We pay our money in – we hope it’s there when we need it in our retirement.

But the financial crisis showed that not knowing, and just hoping for the best, isn’t good enough.

We have to know more, and we have to be able to trust the people who are looking after our money to be sure that we have a secure future.

That’s a bit of a leap of faith for most of us! Which is why I’m so pleased that I’m part of an organisation that is doing the detailed work on my behalf.

It’s called a trade union – and everyone should be part of one!

My union, UNISON, has been looking closely at what happens to our pensions.  It's complicated stuff.  But put simply, the largest 10 pension funds in the world are the savings of Public Service workers. If the UK's local government pension scheme's assets were put together, it would rank as the 4th largest pension fund in the world, at around £150 billion.

But what control over it do we have? In the past, not a lot!

UNISON has been arguing that workers must be represented – and we’re winning the argument. Half the seats on the Local Government Pension Scheme fund boards in England and Wales are now reserved for scheme members. But they need support. So UNISON has been developing a comprehensive Capital Stewardship programme - the first of it’s kind for a trade union in the UK. To make sure that representatives can carry out their vital role properly.

And we’ve been doing detailed research. It shows that by structuring the funds properly, by getting efficiencies of scale and cutting the multiple fees charged, the returns for members can be massively improved, and crucial conflicts of interest removed.

For too long, our hard-earned funds have been managed in the interests of those who run the system – not the workers who created the value in the first place. That in turn leads to runaway executive pay; lack of diversity on executive boards; the squeeze on workers pay and pensions.

And of course, how ironic it is that our savings have been used to buy the treasury bonds used to bail out the banking sector. We should be the owners but our ownership was in the hands of the very organisations responsible for the economic crisis!

So we have a great opportunity – to use the wealth that is already in our hands to help reshape society.
To safeguard the hard-earned pensions of working people – but to do even more than that – to reshape the very way our economy operates.

Conference, the Tories always say there isn’t the money – what a whopper! The money’s there, it’s ours – let’s use it for our benefit – not theirs!"

(hat tip picture Linda Hobson)

#Lab13 Leaders Speech

A quick post on my first impressions of Ed Miliband MP speech to conference.

I thought this speech was very good and well delivered. I think it was over one hour long with numerous interruptions from genuine standing ovations. How on earth can he memorise it all? I can't even remember a 3 minutes speech!

It projected him as a potential Prime Minster and national leader “who will not only stand up for the weak but also stand up to powerful”.

He is making a obvious play towards the self employed and those on low wages by stressing how disillusioned many people are who work hard but still find it impossible to make ends meet. "They used to say 'a rising tide lifts all boats'. Now the rising tide just seems to lift yachts." Not much detail.

He rightly hammered home that you can only trust Labour with the NHS and that the Party will have to rescue it again from the Tories mishandling when we return to power.

He made an excellent point about the Tories received £25 million from Hedge funds and surprise, surprise Hedge funds receive a £145 million tax break.  He might have said "trade unions are the cleanest money in British politics" - but he didn't.

Not really sure why he kept using the term "we are Britain" rather than we are "British"?  

A welcome commitment to build 200k new homes a year and "use the land or lose the land" threat to builders and speculators who are sitting on large land banks. Not sure how he will do this? Nationalisation? Compulsory purchase? Tax?

Beforehand we were wondering what new policies he would announce during the speech. We agreed that they would be headline grabbing but not cost very much to a future government. The votes for 16 and 17 year olds and the welcome freeze on energy prices met those tests.

The Scottish Nationalists will not like the example he used of a Liverpool hospital caring for a patient from Glasgow as a reason why we are "better together" but I think it is a fair point and I’m glad that we are finally making the case for devolution and the United Kingdom.

Overall, I thought he is looking more like a credible Prime Minister than Cameron and now the election is getting nearer he can come out with policies that will make the difference between Labour and the Conservative clearer and give people positive reasons to vote for us.

#Lab13 - Responsible Capitalism and Workplace democracy. Giving workers a real voice

This interesting lunctime fringe had been sponsored by the Fabians, TUC and PIRC. Chaired by Seema Malhotra MP.

TUC General Secretary Frances O'Grady started off by saying some of her members think that "responsible capitalism" is an Oxymoron! But her main point was why is corporate governance in the UK so peculiar and out of step with the rest of Europe?  Where employee representation on company boards is common place.

We need to rebalance Labour and Capital. Frances quoted a terribly condescending and even insulting comment (which she described as "patronising twaddle") from the CBI about why in the UK British employees aren't good enough to being represented on boards.  Workers keep being told that they are the organisations "greatest assets". Yet the arguments being made against employee representation remind her of those made in 19th century against getting rid of the property qualification in order to vote.

Chuka Umunna MP believes that it is all about balance. Do we want a mixed or a laissez faire economy? Leading businesses started talking about this debate before we did in Parliament. Things have got to change. Need to promote the long term. Value investment in people and skill up. Look at the damage done to BP reputation and profitability after the oil disaster. It is in companies self interest to have good governance models. 

Tom Powdrill from PIRC thought that the governance mascot was Lord Myners. Why did shareholders not stop the banks from destroying themselves? Excessive executive pay levels are being driven to the levels found in financial markets. Since oversight is not by shareholders but by fund managers and hedge funds who naturally will think such levels are appropriate. Need a dose of reality. Tackle the problem up stream before a decision is made.  UK Companies already invest in Europe where employee representatives are widely accepted -so why don't they support similar models over here?

Nita Clare from the IPA (see previous post here) was Tony Blair's advisor on trade unions and before that a national officer for unison for 17 years. Good businesses know the value of stakeholders. The CBI quote is now quite old fashioned.  She stressed the importance of the supply chain to business. If there is a fire in a Bangladeshi factory it is no use saying "nothing to do with us".

There has been a death of deference and trust at work. 60% of employees surveyed said they don't trust managers. Management style is critical. If you have a culture of fear in any organisation, private or public, then it will fail. The Social partnership approach in Germany will be difficult to adopt in UK

My question to the panel was similar to the one I made before was how is it that I am an employee representation on a £900 million pension scheme and I sit on a joint committee on health and safety that looks after the safety of thousands of workers but I cannot sit on the management board or remuneration committee of my organisation?

#Lab13 Unions Together Reception

Straight after close of conference yesterday I went to a packed "Unions Together" reception.

The Chair of the Parliamentary Trade Union Group, Ian Lavery MP spoke first and called for us not to be divided but to unite and remember who the real enemy is - the Tories.

This was followed by a trade union speaker from Columbia who thanked the Labour Party and the trade unions for their support and solidarity against their oppression.

After his speech, GMB General Secretary, Paul Kenny made a brilliant intervention by reminding people chatting at the back of the room that if everyone here (400 people?) were trade unionists in Columbia, over the course of 10 years -  two thirds of you would be dead.

Ed Miliband (above) in his well received speech, stressing the repeal of bedroom tax, action on blacklisting and zero hour contracts.  He spoke about meeting a Labour Party member who was 107 years old and had took part in the famous Cable Street protest against the fascits in 1936. He also echoed the words of Ian by stressing that the real enemy is this Tory Government and that we must win the battle against them not for the interests of the Party but for the British people.

#Lab13 One Nation trade unionism: can employees win more by working in partnership with employers?

My first fringe of conference was very topical. I missed the start due to the short but lively conference debate on the Ray Colins report about the link with the trade unions.

It was organised by the IPA, the union Community and Progress (who got a fair bit of stick during the previous debate).

Speakers were Toby Perkins MP, shadow small business minister; Roy Rickhuss national officer, Community; Nita Clarke chief executive, IPA; Maurice Glasman peer and Blue Labour founder Chair: Sarah Veale head of equality and employment rights, TUC

I came in as Nita began to speak. She had worked for unison for many years and later advised Tony Blair on unions. She thought there was no future for unions in the private sector unless they believe in partnership. Some unions seem to prefer to ballot for strike action at the beginning of negotiations not as a "last resort". While 3 years ago a number of employers had said to her that they wished they had unions in their workplaces since they would give employees a voice. They no longer say this. She also thought that "Learning reps" was the most important service that unions can offer. What people want is help to get on in work.  Unions should not retreat into "tigmoo". Its not about structures but about culture and attitude.

Next speaker was Maurice. He believes that it is only labour not capital investment that generates real value. Educating union leaders and building organising in unions is key.  Unions have a problem. In a recent survey 60% of people identified themselves as pro workers but anti trade union. All firms that employ over 100 workers should have employee representation. Unions in Germany have to get their people elected to sit on boards and this keeps unions honest. Regional banks with unions part of the governance are also needed. Personal debt is the biggest issue facing union members.

I asked a question but firstly pointed out that it was considered okay for me to be a staffside representative helping to run a pension fund worth over £900 million yet in the UK staff reps have no right to be on a company board.

I explained that I was late attending this meeting and might have missed something but while I accept that unions should be always looking at themselves and be ready to change you have to remember that some employers are very anti trade union and don't believe anyone has a right to interfere in the running of their business as they see fit.   Also, you won't get employees identifying with companies in the same way they do in Germany because management in Germany don't tend to pay themselves the obscene amounts of money that they do over here. Without pay restraint by UK  management you won't get partnership.

#Lab13 - Ed's Conference Art

I can't resist posting this picture.  I haven't a clue what point (if any) they were making but they made people smile.

Labour Party Conference 2013 #Lab13

I'm inside the Brighton Centre for the Labour Party Conference which started today at 11am. This year I am part of the UNISON delegation as the representive of Greater London Regional Labour Link. Last night there was various Labour and Union regional receptions.  I saw Labour Leader, Ed Miliband give 4 slightly different versions of the same speech.

The conference day started for me at 8.30 this morning with a 90 minute delegation meeting going through issues and conference business.

I'll try and post on as many conference speeches and fringes as possible. Firstly, some personal thoughts on the role of the affiliated trade unions in the Labour Party.  This has of course been very much in the news lately. While there is the theory, "no publicity is bad publicity". I doubt this applies to the recent rows which I am sure have contributed to the recent decline in support for Labour nationally.  Voters don't like in fighting and what they perceive to be divided political parties.

I would rather we were talking about issues and problems that actually matter to people in the run up to the General election such as pay and jobs.  No one has ever mentioned to me on the doorstep that they won't support Labour because of the influence of the trade unions - and they have at times told me in great detail about a wide number of other reasons!

While there is still (just) time to carry out a consultation on the union link before the General Election it has to be real and meaningful.

As I have to keep reminding employers, consultation is not about rubber stamping a proposal. Consultation should be a 2 way street with nothing decided until the consultation is complete. Ed when campaigning for the Party leadership promised us that it would be "different" from recent leaders if he  was elected. He would listen to the Party.

I hold him to these views. Now, I don't expect the leader of what must be an effective political machine dedicated to battle and defeat the most successful electioneering party in Western Europe (tories) not to have a view on how to shape this machine.  I do expect Ed to listen and take into account what we say. Even Party members who are not that well disposed to the unions are asking what is the point of putting at risk affiliation when we will need every penny we can get to try and over come the vast tory war chest.

I heard this morning that there is less than 600 days to defeat David Cameron. Everything we do between now and the next General Election must be judged by one simple test. Does it make it more or less likely to defeat the Tories?