LBTH UNISON Housing Boys Birthday Beer & Curry

A good night in the "Half Moon" Wetherspoon in Stepney (A former Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Chapel) then a great curry in the Lahore Kebab House. Perfect.

Eustace (Monty's older brother), me, Dave, Montrose, work colleague of Eustace, Trevor.

A Service of Celebration for the Life of Kathy Taranczuk

Yesterday I went to celebrate the life of my former Housing manager, Kathy Taranczuk. Kathy had been the office manager of Ranwell/Old Ford local housing office in Bow from 1996 to 2007. I had been her senior housing officer. 

I went with my former colleague, Michelle Smith, to the service in Maidstone, Kent. 

The service itself went very smoothly and was indeed a celebration of Kathy's life. The tribute from her husband Jan, was particularly moving. 

Afterwards there was a very nice spread at a nearby hotel and a chance to chat and catch up with old friends. Jan and the family were very welcoming.

You can donate in memory of Kathy at the Heart of Kent Hospice https://www.hokh.org/support-us/make-a-donation-in-memory/funeral-donations/

My Week 20.6.22-25.6.22

 

A really busy but interesting week. It was my first day back at work after almost 2 weeks holiday (Malta then UNISON conference in Brighton) so lots of tenancy and trade union issues to try and sort out (not helped by major IT/server problems). 

Monday evening was the full council meeting at the Old Town Hall in Stratford.  I spoke in favour of the Climate emergency update and gave what I thought was a gentile dig at the two new Green Councillors for opposing it. While their job is to be the opposition to the majority group at Newham Council, they should not in my view just oppose everything for the sake of opposition. I was pleased that they abstained at the actual vote and did not "oppose" the update. 

I was also really pleased that former long serving Councillor, Pat Holland, was awarded as an "Alder Person" for the Borough in recognition of her work for residents. 

Tuesday evening was another meeting at the Old Town Hall. This time the local Housing Forum, which was really positive. It was great that senior Housing managers met up with residents, face to face, to listen and respond to their concerns (similar to speed dating!). 

On Wednesday evening I attended virtually my UNISON branch General Purposes & Finance Committee meeting. 

Thursday evening we had a virtual induction for my new role as a member of Education, Children & Young People Scrutiny.  Which I am really looking forward to being a member of this so important committee. 

Friday evening I met up with former housing colleagues from Tower Hamlets UNISON for a birthday beer and curry. 

Saturday morning I covered the Councillor surgery for my colleague Cllr Whitworth at Stratford Library, who is away on leave. I had what I thought was a constructive meeting with local residents about very serious and multiple ASB issues. But also was able to look at the various historical pamphlets and documents in the library (see picture of Queen in 1953 and Vicarage Lane E15 in 1960's)

Sunday, I had a lovely recovery walk in Chilterns which I will post upon separately. 

Post lockdown beer & curry

Last night I met up with 3 friends who I have not seen since pre lockdown March 2020. We were celebrating David Boyles birthday with Trevor Dean and Montrose Matty. We were all UNISON reps in Tower Hamlets Housing department back in the day. 

It was great to meet up with comrades in person and have a few beers in a local pub, then to go to Aromas Restaurant in Forest Gate for a slap up meal. During the course of the evening we obviously put the world to rights. 

We could have legally met up earlier but we had decided to be cautious and wait until all of us had been fully vaccinated and that things seem somewhat settled. 

Ironically both Trevor and I received the 1st AZ vaccine in March that was made in India, that the EU has not yet declared to be an accepted vaccine in order to travel to Europe and avoid self isolation. 

Hopefully this will be sorted out soon.

This was to me a very welcome sign that things are getting back to "normal" but no one really knows exactly what will happen next with Covid and we do need to be prepared for the unexpected. 

(Photo of Aromas mixed grill which is a main course but also an excellent starter when shared between 2 very greedy people. Our table had 2 mixed grills as starters between the 4 of us)

Tower Hamlets get together

Picture from birthday drinks last night with my former Tower Hamlets Housing UNISON work colleagues Monty, Dave and Trevor.

There is another "get together" being planned for this month in Stepney Spoons for all former LBTH Housing staff.

It is also the 20th anniversary of the Tower Hamlets housing strike next month.

Watch this space!

Can we have a national DB pension scheme?

My latest article for Professional Pensions. "John Gray says we need to do all we can to preserve defined benefit pension provision in the UK

Those of us who live in the real pension world know it is true but many are in denial. For entirely understandable reasons, the pension industry just don't want to admit it. So come on folks and get out of the pension closet and collectively shout out loud that defined contribution (DC) pension schemes are usually pretty rubbish. 

The government green paper on the future of the defined benefit (DB) schemes may indeed be an attempt to justify the slashing and burning of pension promises but it is also an opportunity to make the opposite case and call for a rebirth of DB.

Recently I was at the TUC annual pension trustee conference and there was a fascinating panel debate on the future of DB. Of course, the 'usual suspects' (progressive actuaries and trade union pension officers) pointed out that there is still a huge (and growing in some sectors) DB pension provision in the UK and that despite some genuine problems these schemes are still affordable, if you ignore the 'Mad Hatter' valuations and assumptions by those who confuse being prudent with being totally risk free.

I raised a question to the panel about why DB schemes are being written off when there is a contribution cap for future accrual in my DB scheme of 19.5% of payroll for employers (13%) and members (6.5%). Meanwhile our new employees, who do not now have such access, need to put away the equivalent of up to 50% of their pay (dream on) to receive similar benefits when they retire in a DC scheme.

Is there an alternative to DB?

Isn't it obvious that DB is better for workers than DC? The half way intermediate schemes such as collective DC or hybrid DB seem to be getting nowhere. There is simply no alternative to DB.

The key note speaker, economist and writer, John Kay gave a brilliant speech at the end of the TUC conference in which he admitted that he thought we had failed the modern generation on pensions. He told us about how recently he had spoken on pensions at a seminar and afterwards a young woman in her 30s had asked his advice about what personal pension she should start? The question had shaken and upset him to think that frankly, his advice should have been it was actually hopeless for her to start anything at her age.

Let's face facts. Many people who will only have access to the state pension and some DC pension savings will not be able to afford to retire. They will have to work until they drop. If they do retire (or get sacked under workplace capability procedures) they face at worse poverty for the rest of their lives and at best certainly nothing like what they would have expected as a standard of living after a lifetime of hard work. Many more will still be dependent on means tested benefits.

We have a national NHS but why don't we have a National DB pension? If the government gave it a Crown promise why can't we open up the Local Government Pension Scheme to everyone including the self-employed? Merge it with the Pension Protection Fund and private DB schemes for efficiencies and economies of scale?

The new government consultation on DB is timely and we should all respond and demand that the government acts to fulfil its duty to its citizens that they will not die in poverty in their old age. The best mechanism to do this is by modern DB schemes open to all, regulated and guaranteed by the state.

John Gray is admitted body union representative at the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Pension Board. He is writing in a personal capacity

Richard "Dickie" Fenn RIP

This afternoon I heard the sad news that Richard "Dickie" Fenn passed away yesterday.  Dickie used to be the Emergency Liaison Officer for Tower Hamlets Council. This wasn't a 9-5 office job.  Over the years (or rather decades) Dickie and his team used to be on call 24/7 to respond in person to floods, fires, boiler failures and any other emergencies that borough residents experienced including terrorist attacks such as the 1996 IRA Dockland bombing. 

I guess that thousands of East Enders have been glad to see Dickie turn up at say 4am in the morning to sort out a flood and clean up the mess.  I never as a housing officer had any complaints at all about him and his team from residents.  Which is astonishing when you consider the nature of his work.

Check this post out on his retirement "Do" in 1999. My favourite "Dickie" story is this one

"In the 1980’s he was a Head caretaker in Bow and he went to visit a property that had been allocated to a new member of his residential caretaking team. As he entered the flat he found the Caretaker’s pregnant wife with two young toddlers in tears at the state of the flat which was damp, mouldy and totally unfit - which should never had been let to anyone – never mind one of his caretakers. Dickie looked around the home and told the wife to pack up since he was moving them. He then arranged for the family to be moved and stormed off to senior managers and successfully demanded a new and decent home that same very day.

The actual caretaker himself wasn’t aware what had happened until he went home that night to find his old home empty".  Needless to say Dickie enjoyed huge loyalty and respect from his staff.

Picture is from a trade union safety inspection I did in 2007 when his team was to be based at the new Sutton Street depot.  We were both arguing with management about the traffic safety management system. 

My sincere condolences to Dickie's family and friends at their loss.

Update: To those who want to pay their respects to Dicky. His funeral will be held next Wednesday 2nd November and the details are as follows:
10:00am　　　　　 Our Lady Immaculate RC Church, 636 Commercial Road, London E14 7HS
11.30am　　　　　 City of London Cemetery, Aldersbrook Road, Manor Park, London E12 5DQ
2.00pm　　　　　　Docklands Sailing Centre, 235a Westferry Road, Isle of Dogs, London E14 3QS
His family have requested that donations be made to Marie Curie Cancer Care