Miserablist's moaning that no one listerns to them

Do young people really, really like this music? Or have I turned into my Dad?

Apologies to those who haven't a clue what this post is really on about :)

Walking in Charles Darwin's footsteps: Cudham & Downe

Off message-ish. Collage from recent pathfinder walk in Bromley, London.

A really fantastic 8 mile, rolling up and down walk with glorious views.

You cannot believe that you are so close to central London and within the M25.

Highlight of the walk was a visit to Down House, which was the home for 40 years of Charles Darwin. He wrote here his famous "Origin of the Species by Natural Selection" in 1859.  He use  to enjoy walking in the countryside around his home while contemplating his theories.

Click on picture to bring up details. Get your boots out of the attic and do this lovely walk over crimbo. (update: more photos from walk posted here on facebook)

UNISON London Lay Leadership visit to Bromley Local Govt Branch

Catching up on some posts - picture is from a recent visit I went on with UNISON London regional Convenor Gloria Hanson and our deputy Convenor, Conroy Lawrence.

The Bromley Local Government branch has been under "regional supervision" for the past several months. There was a number of  problems in the past but I think it is safe to say that we were all very impressed with the way the branch has reorganised itself and is out there connecting with members and fighting constructively for their interests.

Well done!

BROMLEY LG, GREENWICH LG & TENANT SERVICES AUTHORITY BRANCHES

"...the above branches were placed under regional supervision on Friday 5 March 2010.

Regional staff attended the offices of these branches following the NEC decision to place them under regional supervision due to the fact that they are not functioning effectively under UNISON rules.

The decision is taken under the following rules.

Rule D2.1. "The general management and control of the Union between National Delegate Conferences shall be vested in the National Executive Council… It shall have full power and authority to act on behalf of the Union in every respect and for every purpose falling within the objects of the Union. …"

Rule G8.3.3. "An employed official is also entitled to visit a branch where it appears to the General Secretary or the Regional Secretary that a branch may no longer be functioning effectively."

The objectives of supervision are to:

• ensure members obtain effective support and representation

• ensure the branch functions within the unions rules and the union is protected from legal challenge

• work with members, stewards and branch officers to review and establish effective branch and workplace organisation

The practical arrangements in place are as follows:

• the Regional Organiser has become the Branch Secretary on a pro temp basis

• existing branch officers remain in post working under the direction of the Regional Organiser

• decision making functions of the branch required under rule will be taken by branch stewards working under the direction of the region.

• the Regional Organiser will be required to make quarterly reports to the D&O Committee

• supervision will be lifted once the D&O Committee is satisfied that the branch is functioning effectively again under rule

I understand that some reports have been circulated alleging these branches were subject to ‘dawn raids’, seizure of computer hard drives and case files. This is not the case. Regional Staff attended all three branches to provide support and assistance, to secure the assets of the union and ensure that support and services to members are maintained.

Members in the branches concerned are being kept fully informed of developments".

(In the light of the deliberately inaccurate and blatant untruths being put out about these branches who have been put into supervision - this is the truth about the matter. No "dawn raids" no "seizures" and all within union rules.  This advice was sent out to all regional branch secretaries and Committee Chairs. Check out this about the ET judgement JG) 

Just Say No to Fidelity – Pension money used to fund Tories

Just when you feel that the British Financial Services industry cannot sink any lower in public esteem, we learn that leading investment manager Fidelity is giving the Conservative Party vast amounts of money. Hat trick thingy to Tom at “Capital and Labour”.

In the last 3 years they have made a series of donations worth £320, 000. This is just absolutely disgraceful. Fidelity is the fund manager for a number of Local Authority Pension funds. From the top of my head I think this includes Bromley, Haringey, Norfolk, Ealing, Greenwich and Buckingham County Council. So the profits from trade union LGPS pensioners are being used to subsidise the Conservative Party!

No fund managers should support political parties, it is fundamentally wrong. There is a terrible conflict of interest in Conservative run Councils such as Bromley. How can they be seen to properly employ a fund manager such as Fidelity to run their pension scheme when that fund manager donates huge amounts of money to their political party? I assume that National Conservative party funds were used to pay towards the cost of last year’s Parliament by-election in Bromley? This is potentially corrupt and corrupting.

I can’t find any mention of this financial support for the Tories on the Fidelity website or literature (no doubt it will be hidden somewhere). Their governance statement makes no mention of Political Party funding. If there is nothing wrong with this why don’t they publicise the fact?

The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) “Towards Better Corporate Governance” policy which despite being a bit wishy- washy (no comment) makes it clear that they would not normally support donations to Politician Parties. I assume that Fidelity is a business member. There is obviously now a reputational risk of investing in or employing Fidelity.

Pension funds and individual investors (they may also manage your private pension, life assurance or PEP/ISA/unit trust/investment trust) should consider pulling out of Fidelity and transferring funds to other providers if they continue to support the Tories. It is just plain wrong. The arrogance of these people is beyond belief. Write to the administrators of your investment company to see if they use Fidelity. I will be contacting my fellow UNISON member nominated pension trustees and representatives to see what we can do about this.

This is yet another reason why there needs to be real reform of the Local Government Pension Scheme governance and why trained and supported staffside representatives on pension investment panels are desperately needed.

While we are at it here is a link to the American website “Fidelity out of Sudan” which makes some very damaging allegations against Fidelity.