Anwar Choudhury, endorses Labour Parliamentary Candidate, James Asser for West Ham & Beckton

Good to be joined by Anwar Choudhury former High Commissioner to Bangladesh yesterday and great to have his support for the 4th July.

James Asser #WestHamAndBeckton #VoteLabour

SAVE THE DATE - Social protection for garment workers, 21 May, 3pm UK / 4pm CET

 

"Please join the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) and IndustriALL Global Union for a one-hour investor webinar on 21 May at 3pm UK/4pm CET, when we will explore the Employment Injury Scheme (EIS) for ready-made garment workers in Bangladesh. Speakers will include trade union representatives, GIZ and signatory brands, who will speak about the EIS and the impact it is already having. 

 

The EIS pilot was created to bring Bangladesh, the world’s second largest exporter of garments, closer to comprehensive employment injury insurance. Such insurance is one of the most fundamental forms of social protection, an internationally recognized labour right central to building social resilience in the face of crises. The pilot is a concrete example of a social protection programme that is up and running: several dozen well-known brands and retailers are participating, and payouts from the pilot’s fund to affected workers are underway.

 

In the webinar you will learn more about this innovative programme, which brings together companies, trade unions, the government, supplier factories and the ILO to solve a sector-wide challenge. We will also discuss why the EIS is relevant to investors, and what they can do to support it. 

 

The webinar will be moderated by John Gray, Vice Chair, LAPFF.

 

You can register here:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_GTOpIAg7QYqEuCb0mLUuig"

10th anniversary collapse of Rana Plaza garment factory Bangladesh: 1100 dead

Webinar on Global Company–Trade Union Agreements: A proxy for regulatory compliance & due diligence

As someone who has worked on and off in the borough for 30 years (I was there today) and been a trade union representative for most of this time on the Tower Hamlets Council Pension Committee (then its Pension Board), I can remember the shock of hearing about the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory. 1100 workers dead and many more injured in the quest for super cheap clothing for British and other Western retail stores.

Newham also has a significant Bangladesh community but I am sure that everyone was horrified at these needless deaths. The role of local trade unions is key to avoiding future disasters. I am more than happy to be chairing this important meeting.

Register here

"19 April at 3pm UK / 4pm CET

Next month marks the 10th anniversary of the collapse of Rana Plaza garment factory complex in Bangladesh, in which over 1,100 garment workers were killed. In the years since the tragedy, several promising initiatives have taken shape, involving collaboration between global labor unions and multinational brands, binding agreements and remedy mechanisms. These are part of an emerging model of supply chain industrial relations, and they include the International Accord for Health & Safety in the Textile & Garment Industry and ACT on Living Wages.

Learning lessons from the failures of “social auditing” and factory certification schemes, this newer model is centered on workers’ rights and company accountability for violations of these rights. Negotiated, binding agreements can also serve as a reliable proxy for investors for regulatory compliance as mandatory human rights due diligence (mHRDD) laws emerge.

And yet, despite its failures, social auditing persists, and proposed mHRDD laws even risk being weakened if such “private voluntary regulation” is allowed to substitute for true due diligence.

Against this backdrop, IndustriALL has commissioned a technical brief that delves into negotiated, binding agreements between business and trade unions, making the case that, besides reducing human rights risks to workers, they can mitigate business risk for investors in the new regulatory landscape. IndustriALL and LAPFF are pleased to invite you to an investor webinar on 19 April at 3pm (UK), where we will present the brief and hear worker and investor perspectives on this model.

The webinar will be chaired by Cllr John Gray from the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum and will include speakers from Due Diligence Design, Aviva Investors, IndustriALL Global Union and Bangladesh Garment & Industrial Workers Federation (BGIWF)."

Employment Injury Insurance for Garment Workers in Bangladesh - Social Protection in Action

 

Next week I am moderating this virtual webinar for investors on "Social protection for garment workers". If you are involved in pensions please ask your trustees/pension committee/board members, fund managers and financial advisors to attend.

"Employment injury insurance for garment workers in Bangladesh:

Social protection in action

 Join us for an investor webinar on 18 October at 3pm UK / 10am ET

Registration here

IndustriALL Global Union and the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum will co-host a one-hour discussion of the recently launched Employment Injury Scheme (EIS) for ready-made garment workers in Bangladesh. In addition to presenting the pilot itself, the webinar will explore why garment and textile brands are participating, their role in funding it and the need for their continued involvement in the development of sustainable employment injury insurance.

Speakers include Primark and H&M, which are participating in the EIS pilot; the ILO, which supported the pilot’s design; and IndustriALL, which represents workers on the pilot’s tripartite committee. The webinar is aimed primarily at institutional investors interested in working towards a more sustainable garment industry built on respect for workers’ fundamental rights.

This event is part of a larger initiative spearheaded by IndustriALL on social protection for garment workers. Social protection, which can cover needs such as unemployment support, disability benefits and maternity protection, is an internationally recognized human right. During the Covid-19 pandemic, non-payment of wages due to brands’ cancellation of orders led to deepening poverty for millions of global supply chain workers because of the fundamental lack of social protection in producing countries. In several cases, this triggered large-scale protests and brought operational, legal and financial risks for sourcing brands. 

Employment injury insurance is one of the most basic forms of social protection. The Bangladesh pilot, which involves the government, workers, employers and the ILO, is an example of what is possible in the realm of social protection and of how brands are already participating in the effort. The webinar follows on our earlier event in June (recording here), in which workers from Thailand provided testimony about the impact of wage theft on their lives. This next webinar will bring in brands’ views on the importance of social protection and what their role can be.

Please join us on 18 October. Register here

Speakers:

Anne Marie La Rosa, Senior Policy, Legal & Labour Rights Specialist, ILO

Christina Hajagos-Claussen, Director Textile & Garment Industry, IndustriALL Global Union

Leyla Ertur, Head of H&M Group Sustainability, H&M Group

Katharine Stewart, Group Corporate Responsibility Director, Primark

Liz Umlas, Senior Advisor, IndustriALL Global Union

Cllr John Gray, Vice Chair, LAPFF (moderator)

EXCLUSIVE: Sir Robin Wales challenges critics and claims trigger ballot ‘fix’ against him as re-selection contest looms

Blimey, is this supposed to be an Alan "Olive Branch" to the community?

Since nearly all the young, talented (and mostly female) Newham Councillors are now standing down - I think this is just a little late...

But rather bizarre and strange quotations methinks?

Hat tip article in "On London" by Journalist Dave Hill

"Newham Mayor Sir Robin Wales has urged local Labour Party critics to judge him on his record and told his critics to show that they have better policy ideas as he prepares for a selection battle that could end his 23-year leadership of the East London borough in May.

In an in-depth and often combative interview with On London, his first since the “open selection” contest was announced, Sir Robin pledged that, if he wins, his next mayoral term will be his last “no matter what” and that he would bring new councillors into his mayoral team to “give them a chance to show what they can do” as he prepared the ground for his successor.

He characterised Newham’s as “the most radical council in the country”, citing current policies on employment, housing, homelessness, education and supporting poorer residents as models that could be followed by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, and saying that improving health care and skills would be his priorities in any fifth mayoral term.

Sir Robin also strongly defended the conduct of the 2016 “trigger ballot”, which initially saw him re-selected as Labour’s 2018 mayoral candidate by 20 votes to 17 but was later annulled following complaints and legal action by local members, claiming that the main problem was simply poor record-keeping by party volunteers and that he was the true victim of procedural irregularities.

He claimed that the outcome of the Newham Co-operative Party trigger vote in 2016, which went against him by a single vote, was “fixed” by what he said was his wrongful exclusion from casting a vote himself and by a fellow Co-op member being permitted to cast one against him despite leaving the relevant meeting before the ballot itself was held.

He also said he has evidence of invalid votes having been cast at ward branch meetings during the original trigger ballot process and that there had been, in breach of party rules, a concerted prior effort to sign up members in order to influence the outcome, leading to “about 200 votes across a number of wards” being cast against him. There were 20 individual branch ballots, resulting in nine trigger ballot “yes” votes to Sir Robin going forward automatically as mayoral candidate for 2018 and eleven “no” votes.

Sir Robin said he has written to individuals he believes were involved, informing them that “we might take you to court”. Referring to “a particular group in a community” he likened the situation to that in a neighbouring East London borough, Tower Hamlets, where Labour has a history of contending with allegations about the signing up of substantial numbers of people from among its Bangladeshi residents, who are thereby enfranchised to vote in candidate selection contest ballots but who make no other contribution to the party.

Though declining to identify the “particular group” by its ethnicity or religion, Sir Robin said the members concerned were “all men”, reiterated his long-standing disquiet over that he terms “community politics” and was keen to place on record his view that in Newham Labour “there are loads of Muslims who are progressives”.

Describing his approach as Mayor as guided by “considered risk”, he talked up the potential of the Newham-owned Red Door Ventures housing company to build new homes for market and affordable rent on the large scale required and stressed the need for such initiatives by London councils, given that commercial developers have consistently failed to meet housing demand in London and that government policy restricting borrowing for house building was “moronic”.

Responding to criticism that Newham’s £40m investment in the conversion of the 2012 Olympic stadium, now the London Stadium, has failed to produce a return, he urged people to look at the bigger picture of the Olympic Park and its environs, saying that Newham’s commitment had been to a wider regeneration programme and that this would eventually produce “somewhere between £120m and £160m in value” to the borough".

Read the full On London interview with Sir Robin Wales here.

THANK YOU for visiting this website. OnLondon.co.uk has led the way in covering the Newham trigger ballot story. It needs your donations to keep it going, growing and continuing to provide fair and detailed journalism about a range of big issues facing the capital. Please support this Crowdfunder today.

Campaign to Save Member Nominated Trustees: Trying to keep the City honest!

I was recently interviewed on the telephone by a researcher for the campaign group for responsible investment ShareAction.

They are rightly concerned that there is a move towards getting rid of independent member nominated trustees of pension funds and replacing them with "professional advisers". This is my edited record of the interview.

Q. We’ve been asked by civil servants to provide any instances of proof where having a member nominated trustee on a board actually resulted in different outcomes, compared with not including MNTs.  What would you say to this?

MNTs are often the only people from outside the often ‘cosy club’ of providers, advisers and consultants who are actually independent. They can be the only people prepared to ask difficult questions and challenge things like fees and charges, whereas an adviser who is themselves on £100k plus a year would not.  And they are far most sensitive about fees and charges because - it’s their own money!

MNTs are also often the only ones to really bring up Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) issues.  Many employers and providers pay lip service to this and claim they think it’s important but ESG is never actually an agenda item and often is not brought up at meetings unless the MNT brings it up.

MNTs are very dependent on their advisers, they don’t actually run the schemes themselves after all.  But advisers don’t have a fiduciary duty, their duty is to their employer or their firm’s partners.  MNTs have a unique fiduciary duty to members and this is absolutely crucial.

Q. We’ve often heard the criticism that pensions are very complex and MNTs just don’t have the expertise to do the job properly.  What would you say to this?

‘Rubbish’. It’s not true at all.  The Pension’s Regulator actually over-complicates the system in some ways.  There are many actors in the system who benefit from this complexity, the more complicated it is the more there is a need for experts to advise.  The recent research into local government pension schemes which showed active management to be a waste of money is evidence of this.  When I was first involved in governing a pension scheme, in the early 90’s, we  had 2 or 3 investment funds – who did fixed income, equities and property for example.  Now schemes have 10-11 funds.  Its all got far too complicated and far too expensive.

If people can make money from complexity and being experts than they will, it’s just the way of capitalism and a reasonable response to systemic incentives.

Saying that, we do have to be honest that not all trustees are up to speed, we are carrying some deadwood in the system.  This is sometimes because they don't have the support or haven’t been given the training, or they haven’t been shown why the training is really important.

Some MNTs are selected for the role, rather than being elected, and I do worry that in some cases individuals are deliberately selected because they won’t really challenge the employer or provider.  Its human nature, if the people responsible for administering the pension scheme choose who sits on the trust board, why would they want to choose individuals who are going to give them a hard time?

I knew a really capable MNT, one of the best I have ever known, who who was kicked off the board because she challenged the scheme too much in one respect.  She refused to ever vote on a matter if she hadn’t been sent the papers at least 24 hours in advance, she was very diligent and capable but she was managed out of the role.

Churchill said "Democracy is the worse form of government - apart from all the rest". MNT's should always be directly elected by beneficiaries in my view.

Q. What is the biggest challenge that you face in carrying out your roles as an MNT?

Getting sufficient time off work, to stay on top of all the developments in the pension world and go on training courses, to do necessary reading as well as attending the actual trustee board meetings. Some employers are very good at giving reps enough time off to do these roles but others aren’t.

Q. Is there anything that we should be calling for the regulator to do to improve this situation?

There is already guidance that says that time off should be given to trustees but this guidance needs to be clearer – for example it could specify that time off is needed for reading and training as well as attending the meetings.  There is about a day’s worth of reading to do for each meeting.

I don't think as a rule that MNTs should be paid for their roles, as they are managing their own money, but the employer could be reimbursed by the scheme for giving them the time off and if a MNT is out pocket, they should be fully reimbursed.

Q. Apart from providing a fresh, non-industry perspective and asking challenging questions, what are the other benefits of having MNTs on the board?

It gives the members confidence in the system when they can see that they have their own representatives involved in governing the scheme.  This is essential because many members have a real distrust of the scheme or the employer and this is preventing them from saving enough.

In some good schemes they have an AGM once a year where trustees can talk to ordinary members and often encourage them to join the scheme. Senior management or PR type people just can’t talk to members in their own language in the same way.

Member reps are essential for building trust in the system and proper accountability. I have lived through so many scandals in the Financial services industry, like Maxwell, Equitable Life, 2008 etc, and it should be obvious to everyone that people from outside the industry need to be involved in governance to stop foul play.

Q. We have been calling for more schemes to hold AGMs, but hear the criticisms that they won’t work, no one will come, it’s a waste of money.  What is your experience?  Do AGMs work?

Yes they do.  Many schemes typically get very good turnouts.  I have been to AGMS of FTSE 100 companies where the turnout was much worse than at a pension scheme AGMs – and the quality of questions was poorer too.

Q. What kind of things do people ask questions about mainly at pension scheme AGMs?

Benefits.  And after that ESG is the next biggest topic. Employers and providers are very nervous about ESG issues but they aren’t actually doing anything about it.

Q. You’ve said that ESG is on the radar of trustee boards and pension schemes, but what can be done to move things to the next stage of getting them to act?

We need to get the message across that it makes good business sense to incorporate ESG.  This approach is better for getting your money to grow in the long-term than chasing short-term, speculative returns.  The funds I am involved in are not ethical funds, but they still care about investing ethically because it’s best for the fund.  There are still, unfortunately, a lot of people out there who thing that ESG is just for tree-huggers

Q. What kinds of mechanisms should schemes (trust-based and IGCs) put in place to open channels of communication with members, apart from AGMs?

Schemes should have good websites and newsletters, where they profile trustees.  I have seen organisations who do a ‘trustee of the month’ feature, for example, which works well.  Large organisations can also post things on notice boards in communal areas.

Q. What have been your proudest achievements during your time doing these roles in pension governance?

My proudest achievement is getting a proper reaction from the fund management industry to the Rana Plaza disaster and other factory fires in Bangladesh. A lot of fund managers initially didn’t get why this was important and we had some very "difficult" meetings.  We did succeed in convincing fund managers to take appropriate action to try and ensure that this type of thing does not happen again.  This was particularly important in my pension fund as a lot of scheme members are of Bangladeshi origin.

The TUC, AMNT and UNISON stewardship networks have been very useful for achieving these sorts of aims and I  has seen how actions these schemes have taken have filtered through to the wider industry.

Q. Any final comments?

Schemes need to recognise that it’s just not good for them to shut out the members.  They should welcome MNTs as these people help schemes to realise their own weaknesses.  The industry should know this.  There is no ‘invisible hand’ regulating the market. We try and keep schemes honest and successful. Nothing more and nothing less.

(I suspect that many will not know who is the person in the picture - it is mega pension thief Robert Maxwell)

115th company signs Bangladesh safety accord

Good news from Stronger Unions Last "Tuesday, Edinburgh Woollen Mill (EWM) - which runs stores across Great Britain under its own name and as Peacocks – finally signed the union-sponsored Bangladesh Fire and Safety Accord, becoming the 115th company to do so. It was a big win for months of campaigning by unions and NGOs, including another push planned for this weekend, the first anniversary of the Tazreen Fashions factory fire which killed over a hundred people....."

The Evil Ones - 1 down 4 to go: Bench, Bank Fashion, Republic and Mexx.

On Tuesday I posted here on the campaign by the TUC "Going to Work" website about handing in letters of protest on Saturday (tomorrow) to branches of Peacocks about the refusal of their parent company, Edinburgh Woollen Mill to sign the Bangladesh Fire and Building safety Accord.

This Accord is trying to stop the senseless slaughter of garment workers in Bangladesh. See here, here and here.

West Ham Labour Party TULO had agreed on Tuesday that trade union activists will hand in letters of protest to Stratford and Green Street Peacock stores before and after Labour canvassing sessions.

Great news! We have now been told that after months of refusing EWM have now signed the Accord!!!! So the protest tomorrow is called off although we are still pressing EWM to pay compensation for workers injured in the horrific Tazreen factory fire.

The pressure will now be on the 4 "evil ones" retail stores "Bench, Bank Fashion, Republic and Mexx" who are still refusing to sign the Accord. I hope that "Going to work" will be asking us to do similar stuff with this irresponsible mob in the near future.

(hat tip picture Banksy)

Edinburgh Woollen Mill / Peacocks: 23 Nov Day of Action on Bangladesh

I got this email this morning from the TUC website "Going to Work". I have printed off the letter and will be popping into my local Peacocks store on Saturday.

I hope many others will do the same. We will be discussing this at the West Ham TULO meeting tonight as well.


"Dear John,
On Saturday 23 November, the day before the anniversary of the Tazreen fashions fire, in which over a hundred people lost their lives, we are calling out Edinburgh Woollen Mill and their subsidiary company Peacocks for their continued inaction on their deadly factories in Bangladesh.

Please help us to take the message right into their branches near where you live by printing out and signing a letter, and delivering it in person. We need them to join the overwhelming majority of their competitors in signing up to the fire and building safety plan for their factories in Bangladesh, and to pay compensation to victims of the Tazreen disaster.

Retailers are always concerned about their image locally, and getting a lot of letters passed over the counter around the country, on an important Christmas trading date, will send a very strong signal to the company that their customers won't let them just brush people's lives under the carpet.

To make this a bit easier, we've mapped their branches online, and there's likely one near you. Choose a branch in your area, and click to visit the store. We'll give you a letter to download and print out.

First step is to choose a branch that you could visit on Saturday 23 November...

NB: This action is supported by the TUC, War on Want, People and Planet, Labour Behind the Label, SumOfUs.org, SEAD, STUC and WTUC, so you'll be in good company!"

UPDATE: Great news - EWM have signed the Accord!!!!! check out here

#TUC13 Congress fringe: Building Safety & Employment Rights in the Bangladesh Textile Industry.

This was the last Congress fringe I attended which took place on Tuesday lunchtime. Chair was Gail Cartmail from Unite (middle) who reminded us that our role is not just to remember those who have suffered in the recent Bangladeshi disasters such as the Rana Plaza building collapse which killed 1200 people but to prevent future ones.

First speaker was Bangladeshi garment workers’ union President, Amirul Haque Amin who addressed Congress on Sunday evening.   He explained that international support and solidarity went two ways - it was not just about the North providing financial support for the South.  It is about how to stop international companies exploiting all workers - in Bangladesh and the UK. Workers in Textile factories, retail, transport and consumers. All are being exploited. We need to work together to challenge such exploitation.

Amirual called for the British companies who have refused so far to sign the international "Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh" to do so. The so called "Alliance" by Walmart and Gap is completely inadequate since it is voluntary and not binding.

Workers protected by the Accord have right to refuse dangerous work and keep their salary. Also they will themselves play a key role in safety training and inspections.

Phil Jennings from the UNI global union spoke next. His union had played a key role in creating the Accord. He thought it was a "beginning to the end to the race to the bottom". Beforehand there had been a failure of reporting as well as collusion between safety investigators and factory owners.

The issue of adequate compensation for the relatives of the dead and the injured is still outstanding.

Then Debbie Coulter (on right) , Head of Programmes for the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) pointed out that Bangladesh is the 2nd biggest clothing exporter in the World but allows widespread labour rights violations. Union activists have been tortured and even murdered. This had led to disasters such as Rana Plaza and the earlier Tazreen factory fire. Workers have little power and as shown at Tazreen fire doors were locked and fire alarms ignored by managers.  

Without workers rights disasters will happen again. The only solution is freedom of association and bargaining rights for unions to protect them. 

Final speaker was Fiona Wilson from UK retail union USDAW. She named the UK companies refusing to sign the Accord :-

River Island, Matalan, Bench, Bank Fashion, Peacocks, Jane Norman, Republic and Mexx.

She also criticised the UK government for inviting the top 20 retailer to a conference in July on this issue but excluded the TUC. Need to promote the Accord and draw up similar agreements in other Countries. At least now we have a model.

(take action to get the 8 UK retailers to sign the Accord at the TUC Going to Work website)

#TUC13 Congress: River Island: Sign the Bangladesh safety accord now! "Keep away from fire"

Hat tip to TUC Going to work "We visited River Island in Bournemouth with Bangladeshi garment workers’ union President Amirul Haque Amin. River Island are one of the 8 UK clothing firms still holding out from signing the Fire and Building Safety Accord for Bangladesh, which could save many lives in that country’s hazardous garment industry.

 

Most UK companies that source clothing in Bangladesh have signed the Accord, which will pay for safety inspections and repairs aimed at stopping disasters like the Rana Plaza building collapse and the Tazreen factory fire.

River Island need to step up to their responsibilities to the people who make our clothes. Nobody’s life is worth as little as a few pence extra on a T-shirt.

Please help us convince River Island and the other 7 UK brands who still won’t sign by sending them an email.

 

Send an email now

 

And please also sign our friends SumOfUs.org’s petition to River Island to face their responsibilities and sign now.

 

Sign the petition now"

#TUC13 Congress - Sunday

TUC 2013 Congress started off for me with a UNISON delegation meeting in our hotel.  During which we agreed positions on motions and composites as well as our speakers.

Congress kicked off at 4pm at the Bournemouth BIC venue. There was the traditional welcome committee outside who expressed concern about our lower limb disorders (TUC - Get off your Knees - General Strike Now!).

This year the TUC President is Lesley Mercer from the union CSP (Chartered Society of Physiotherapy). She introduced Sororal/fraternal delegates and visitors followed by the obituary of union activists who have died in the previous year and a silence for world peace. During the obituary they played Paul Robeson singing "Joe Hill 

Congress business for today was on Employment Rights and then Equalities.  Motion 54 was the most controversial. This motion included discussion of mass industrial action and was opposed by several unions.  It was passed overwhelmingly. UNISON voted in favour.

The President made her address and received the vote of thanks in return. Congress was prolonged in order to hear Amirul Haque Amir, the leader of the Bangladeshi Federation of Garment Workers speak about the  Rana Plaza building collaspe in April when over 1200 workers were crushed to death.

Congress finished at 7.15pm after which there was a reception for delegates by the TUC General Secretary Frances O'Grady. During which I met Amirul.

After the reception I had a meal with fellow delegates then went off to the hotel early to go over my speech for tomorrow morning on the Housing debate.

Roll of Retail Shame: River Island, Matalan, Bench, Bank Fashion, Peacocks, Jane Norman, Republic and Mexx.

I've just sent an email via the TUC Going to Work website to the shameful 8 UK retailers who have refused to sign the international "Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh".

I am sure that most people will remember the Rana Plaza building collaspe in April when over 1200 workers were crushed to death.

"The Accord commits companies to fund an independent safety inspection body that will involve workers in the process, through their unions, and to make long term deals with suppliers, offering more secure employment and training for workers. As such it represents a big deal for Bangladeshi workers".

The website has some clever software by which you can email the Shameful 8 and ask them to sign the Accord. There is a standard message you can send but you can also personalise it which may prove more effective. This is what I sent :-

"Dear Sir/Madam

I am a Councillor in the London Borough of Newham and I have also worked in Tower Hamlets for the past 20 years. Both boroughs have large Bangladesh communities.

I am horrified that your company has not signed the UNI accord and you are exploiting workers in Bangladesh and putting them at risk by making your clothes in potential death traps.

I understand that you are a private company but I will be contacting the Pension funds of Newham and Tower Hamlets Council to see if they have any investments in your company. The reputational damage and risk to your brand by not signing the Accord is huge.

I hope you reconsider your immoral and economically damaging decision".

Please click here to send your own message and encourage the sharing of this information. Also next time you go shopping just think about these brands and remember the rows of dead and disfigured bodies you saw on TV after the collapse. If your friends or family wear clothes from those stores who refuse to sign up to the Accord just remind them of the true cost of cheap fashion.... River Island, Matalan, Bench, Bank Fashion, Peacocks, Jane Norman, Republic and Mexx.

The President of the Bangladeshi National Garment workers Federation Amirul Haque Amin is speaking tomorrow at the start of the TUC Congress.

Pensions Age article on Rana Plaza Building Collapse.

This is a short article I wrote on behalf of the Associated Member Nominated Trustees (AMNT) for Pensions Age magazine last month (sorry can't find on line link).  See my previous post
on this wholly avoidable mass killing.

"I’m sure that everyone who watched the TV footage of the collapsed Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh would have been shocked and horrified. The death toll is now more than 1100. The reasons for the collapse are unclear but there has been suggestions that alterations to the building were made without official planning permission and allegations of local bribery and corruption.

UK clothing retailer Primark who sold goods produced in this building (which is owned by FTSE 100 Associated British Foods) has offered to help with compensation payments. This is all very good but the question that pension trustees should consider at their next board meeting is this.

Have they done all they can to ensure that the companies they invest and partly own take all reasonable steps to ensure that their supply lines do not profit from potential death traps?

To be clear, the direct responsibility for Rana Plaza lies in the hands of its owners and State authorities. However, as owners of companies that have benefited from the production of cheap clothing we also have a duty.

We need to make sure that our fund managers know that not only do we care about what is done in our name and with our money but we believe it makes long term financial sense that we only do business with companies that can demonstrate they take all their responsibilities seriously".

Pay 2p extra per teeshirt to save workers lives

Check out the TUC website Going to Work and the campaign it is running with LabourStart to make Garment factories in Bangladesh safe.

They point out that the people responsible for poverty wages and very poor safety standards are not consumers in the UK looking for bargain clothes but the global brands and retailers who set prices and therefore wage rates and safety standards.

If the £27 per month wages of these workers were to be doubled this would only cost an extra 2p per tee shirt sold in the UK. They would then not be so desperate for work regardless of conditions. Effective health and safety at work would cost even less. Especially if free trade unions were allowed in Bangladesh who could drive up safety standards.

All pension fund trustees should be scrutinising their fund managers about what they are doing to make sure that any investments they hold in any part of the garment supply chain (not just factories and shops but also finance, raw materials, construction, design, transport and insurances) act responsibly and make sure all workers are properly paid and safe. This is not just a matter affecting Bangladesh.

We have factories making Apple iPADS in China who treat their workers so badly that they have to put up suicide nets around high buildings.

Trustees own these assets on behalf of their beneficiaries and must take personal responsibility for what is done in their name and on their behalf. It is also a given in my book that investments in well managed companies that to not allow their supply chain workforce to be killed, do not employ child labour, do not bribe local officials nor destroy the environment - will produce superior long term returns for the pension fund.

Workers Memorial Day - The cost of cheap clothes is paid for in blood & why we are all guilty

Tomorrow is Workers Memorial Day (WMD). An international day of remembrance for those who have been killed in accidents at work or who have died of work related ill health.

As I type this rescuers are still trying to save workers trapped for days in the Rana Plaza building in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The BBC report that at least 336 people have died and 600 are missing.

WMD is also a campaigning day to fight for the living as well as remember the dead.

We all have to take responsibility for the dreadful events in Dhaka. The ridiculous cheap prices for clothes at discount stores such as Primark or Matalan is paid for in blood. Shoppers need to understand this and demand responsible and accountable ethical sourcing.

But the problem is wider than this. No doubt the middle class John Lewis brigade will be shaking their heads in disgust at the thought of all these chavs buying their cheap clothes - while at the same time their pension and insurance policies are profiting from the world wide exploitation of the same workers.

Pension trustees need to raise their game and make sure that the companies they invest in have pro active and vigorous supply chain inspection regimes and that all their sub contractors truly respect workers rights and safety. 

We also need to make sure that that the huge contract pension and insurance funds that don't have any trustee oversight are brought into the responsible investment fold. If you pay into any product that invests in any part of this supply chain you can't wash your hands of your responsibilities as a owner and a beneficiary of what is done in your name.

Why don't we make UK companies and investors legally responsible for the reckless mass deaths of companies they invest in as they are for the manslaughter of workers they directly employ in the UK? 

Also, before we get too smug, don't forget the 20,000 plus Brits who die prematurely every year in this country because of their work.

Check the TUC website for list of local events to mark Workers Memorial Day.

Fix "Death Trap" Factories in Bangladesh

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Click here to sign the petition to H&M, Gap and Walmart for them to join a fire safety programme and fix their ""death trap factories" in Bangladesh.

I posted on the "True Price of Cheap Fashion: 120 burnt or jumped to death at Bangladesh Textile Factory Fire" here on 1 December.

Following a recent London UNISON Pension network meeting I am drawing up questions that Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) member nominated trustees should be asking their fund advisers and managers about what they are doing to make sure that the companies we invest in do not pay dividends in blood money.

Ordinary UNISON members can also ask these questions of their schemes? I will post them as soon as I can. 

True Price of Cheap Fashion: 120 burnt or jumped to death at Bangladesh Texile Factory Fire

Check out TUC Owen Tudor post at Stronger Unions on the latest fire massacre at a Bangladesh textile factory.

It is estimated that 120 workers are dead, many of them young women who died behind locked fire escapes while some even jumped to their deaths to avoid being burnt alive.

Owen is completely right that the best way to protect these vulnerable and exploited workers are strong and independent trade unions.

But this does not let British, European and USA companies which invest in such factories or source cheap clothes in Bangladesh to sell in the West off the hook. Nor pension or insurance companies who make money from these companies or to be frank the consumers who buy products without knowing the conditions that the human beings who sweated to make them endure. Have we all got blood on our hands?

Tazreen Fashions who owns the factory apparently makes goods for "H&M, Walmart, Denim, Marks and Spencer, Carrefour, IKEA and others". It is alleged that it was widely known that this factory was unsafe but nothing was done.

Next week there is a meeting of the UNISON London Pension network and I will be asking members to bring up this up with their fund managers. What are they doing to make sure that the companies we invest in make sure that such things cannot happen again? This is an investment as well as an ethical issue. Not only should pension funds (and pensioners) not want to prosper from investing in companies that kills its workers but there is now overwhelming evidence that companies that act responsibly produce superior long term financial returns. 

We need to make sure at a minimum that all the companies in the supply line we invest in recognise and support trade unions (Please note this also applies to all those UK organisations who disgracefully refuse to recognise and bargain with independent trade unions at home. What message are they sending?) but also that they make sure that act at all times responsibly.  

On Wednesday evening at the LAPFF conference I spoke to a Governance adviser for a leading fund manager, who told me that due to rising wages in China, mass textile production is moving to cheaper zones such as Bangladesh. So the problem is likely to get even worse. 

On Thursday evening at the LAPFF conference hotel there was a false fire alarm at 4am. While I am not for a moment comparing things with that at Tazeen Fashions, it did make me think at the time what I would do if I was trapped by raging fires and locked safety doors in my 3rd floor room. 

Unless we all do our bit as consumers and investors to demand effective change I have no doubt that I will be reporting on something equally horrific sometime soon.  

#Uint11 Project with UNE Nicaragua

Sat pm: Ruby Cox the Chair of UNISON Greater London International Committee (I am vice Chair) spoke next with Gabriela Queuedo, the Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign Action Group Trade Union Officer (NSC).

Ruby spoke about how she first became involved in  international work in her branch (Tower Hamlets Local Government - my old branch).  Tower Hamlets  borough has the highest number of Bangladeshi residents in Europe. She was involved in making contact and organising a visit of 3 Bangladeshi trade union leaders (I also drove them around the borough during this visit). 

Ruby has an interest in Nicaragua and managed to be part of a delegation to visit this country. She was pretty horrified at the very poor working conditions and lack of employment rights. Since 2009 she had been involved in a project to fund a legal office to for the main Nicaraguan public sector trade union UNE. Gabriela explained about the NSC and how they helped Ruby with the assistance of the UNISON international department to eventually bring the project to a successful end.  The legal office is now up and running.

I think that Ruby and Clare in the previous presentation showed that it was possible for UNISON branches and Regions to start an initiate, get money and support from UNISON, work with partners and to set up successful projects.  It is often slow and frustrating but they show it can be done.

Bangladesh: Free Moshrefa Mishu

I've just sent an email via Labourstart to various Bangladesh government and Police bodies about the arrest of Moshrefa Mishu, President of the Garment Workers Unity Forum (GWUF).

Check out details on screen print.

Click here to send protest emails.