Newham Council Pension Committee (& we are shortlisted for "Best Climate Change Strategy" award)

Great to be back tonight in the Newham Council Chamber in East Ham Town Hall for a meeting. Some interesting statistics from the agenda which included our draft annual report on the pension fund. 

• There are 29,122 scheme members
• 53 different employers are part of the scheme (not just the Council)
• The value of the scheme increased over the year from £1.37 billion to £1.59 billion
• There are 22 pensioners/dependants over the age of 100 and 48 dependants under the age of 20 receiving a pension. These facts should be really important in persuading staff to join or stay in the scheme. 

Remember if you work for the Council or any of the active employers and die - your partners and children will NOT get a penny if they are not in the pension scheme!

The Chair, Cllr Nareser Osei, also announced that our fund had been nominated for "Best Climate Change Strategy" Award by LAPF Investments. 

In a belated (and sadly flippant) response to a good technical comment by an officer, who said she did not want to argue with an actuary (our pension/accountant specialists) I did say that I used to go out with an actuary once, and we used to argue all the time! (this is based on fact)

The meeting is on https://youtu.be/v5whRSuo8-A

Back to East Ham Town Hall

 

This evening I went inside East Ham Town for the first time since pre lockdown for a Crime & ASB Scrutiny Commission meeting. I only went to make sure that there was the minimum quorum of  Councillors present, since I had an emergency trade union clash that I had to deal with. 

Due to Covid only the minimum number of Councillors are asked to join these meetings physically and others are encouraged to join virtually. I had said that I would attend in person and by law only Councillors physically present in meetings count for quorum. 

The meeting was quorum without me, so I apologised to the Chair,  Cllr Daniel Lee-Phakoe and colleagues then left. Which was a real shame since it was an important meeting which I wanted to attend. 

Yesterday evening we had a full Council meeting at the Old Town Hall in Stratford. Which is a beautiful and historic building but I have many more memories of East Ham Town Hall (not all good but mostly!) and it is a lovely building as well. 

East Ham Town Hall - 1950s. View of my office

Hat tip Newham History Society 

#J10 Strike, Picket, March & Rally

This picture is from the picket line outside Newham Town Hall in East London this morning.

I was there early with other members of West Ham Labour Party to show solidarity with UNISON, GMB & Unite strikers calling for "Fair Pay".

Newham UNISON branch Chair and Secretary Gloria Hanson and Kim Silver (middle of photo) were official stewards.

Hat tip photo Inside Housing

Later that day there was a very successful march through central London followed by a rally in Trafalgar Square.

This strike was about justice and fairness for predominantly female, low paid, Council workers providing vital public services. Their pay has been reduced in real terms by a 20% (5th) since 2010. Enough is enough is enough. Check out my opinion piece here.