Across the Red Line - Can going on strike any longer be justified?

I really enjoyed this defence of the right to strike by former General Secretary of the CWU (Royal Mail union) and Labour Home Secretary, Alan Johnson. He was in a Radio 4 debate with a right wing economist who believed that workers should not be allowed to break their employment contracts by going on strike (but confusingly he believed they could in periods of rapid inflation? Such as now?). 

You can hear the podcast here https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001b40r

Alan, was as always, a great communicator and articulated non sectarian powerful arguments in favour of the right to strike. 

Today I have been in touch with comrades in the CWU about supporting the Royal Mail strikes later this week. 

You can get copies of Alan's autobiographies here 

"Royal Mail CDC pensions ‘could outperform DB as well as DC"

 

Recently I completed a research project into Pension Provision for Housing Association staff. In the project I mentioned the pros and cons on the new CDC (Collective Defined Contribution) schemes that have very recently been allowed to operate in the UK.  I came across this video and article by CWU union who are very supportive of CDC for Royal Mail. 

"Latest actuarial modelling suggests the new Royal Mail CDC/DB pensions scheme could provide returns some 70 per cent higher than current Defined Contribution schemes and CDC schemes could even outperform Defined Benefit, says our DGSP Terry Pullinger in his video update to members today (7/10/20).

Work done by Wills Towers Watson Actuaries suggests “that the CDC scheme, on average, would produce 70 per cent more for an individual than a DC scheme and 40 per cent more, currently, than a DB scheme,” Terry explains, adding: “Now that is massive news and will certainly shake up the pension world.”

Defined benefit pensions schemes are, he reminds us, still considered “the ‘gold standard with guaranteed outcomes,” but adds that Wills Towers Watson’s performance modelling, “which has gone on ever since we created this scheme, even through the Covid period” suggests that CDC schemes “would on average actually produce a better benefit.”

Today sees the Pension Schemes Bill return to the House of Commons for its Second Reading, after which it moves into its final Stages and, providing it progresses, will then receive Royal Assent and pass into law.

Opposition to the Bill is not expected, although MPs will, no doubt, be looking carefully at the legislation and ensuring that it meets all of the usual stringent tests for new legislation.

If the progress of the Bill continues as currently scheduled – and it will become the Pension Schemes Act once it has received Her Majesty’s formal approval – Terry anticipates that the Royal Mail CDC Scheme would likely be introduced into the company “at some point next year” and “bring all our members into one ‘wage in retirement scheme.”

CWU members are warmly praised by our DGSP, who thanks them for the tremendous support” they gave to the union’s 2017 Four Pillars campaign, which was so powerful that it forced Royal Mail and the CWU into designing a new and unique on-going agreement on pensions that still offered a wage in retirement, and that led to this ground-breaking development.

Back in 2017, Royal Mail workers in the company’s DB scheme were faced with the prospect of being transferred into the DC scheme. DC schemes were once seen as the answer to reducing DB provision, but time had suggested that the outcomes for DC members would be insufficient to sustain dignity in retirement.

“So we were insistent that there must be another way,” explains Terry, “and we refused to accept that the only answer was a lump sum paid out when you retire, which wasn’t producing the best results and was insufficient to sustain people through their old age.”

Eventually, as a key aspect of the Four Pillars agreement, both the CWU and the business agreed to find a better solution, he continues: “We both got on the same page to develop the art of the possible.

“How to create such a pension scheme.”

With help and expert assistance from First Actuarial, who have aways been a great support to the CWU, and other unions, as well as Wills Towers Watson and others who support Royal Mail, the principle of a CDC scheme – a collective, shared-risk scheme – was agreed and a specific, Royal Mail CDC scheme was designed – and robustly modelled.

The scheme would replicate the old DB scheme in design, producing a wage in retirement generated via CDC and a guaranteed lump sum.

Although CDC in different forms is used in other countries, such as Canada, Denmark and the Netherlands, no scheme of its type has previously existed in the UK and so legislation was required.

“I know that it’s through the collective strength of CWU members that we’ve managed to achieve that,” insists Terry, who makes the further point that, as well as being beneficial to Royal Mail workers, the precedent set could also be “a game changer for many working people.”

For workers in other companies, “this could make a massive difference to their lives and certainly to what their retirement might look like,” he suggests, adding: “Hopefully it will encourage other employers to move away from DC and into this type of scheme, CDC, so that people can get back to having a Wage in Retirement and dignity in retirement.”

The CWU does not support any sense that CDC should replace DB schemes and believes that DB schemes are the ‘gold standard’ and will remain so until time suggests otherwise.

However, for CWU members, the modelling is excellent news that supports our view that we have found a way to give our members a genuine pensions that produces a wage in retirement.

After describing the current situation as “a big moment, a massive moment,” Terry gave a “massive thank you to all of our members who backed this union unanimously,” and that this is clear evidence that we only get what we deserve if we negotiate from a position of strength.

“It’s been a long time waiting, but we’re getting closer and closer,” he added.

CWU Supporter Network #WeRiseAgain

I have just signed up to the Royal Mail trade union CWU Supporters Network. Hat tip Syed.

"The fight against exploitative employers, dodgy contracts and insecure work requires the support of every single community across the country.

Our recent vote for strike action in Royal Mail Group was secured by connecting with our membership in every corner of the UK – both online and on the ground.

Now we need your help to take our message to the public. By joining CWU Supporters you will be contacted with campaign materials and resources that will help us win this battle – and the others we are fighting

Be one of the first to join us by signing up below. Once you have joined us, don’t forget to hit share so that you can alert your social media networks to our new network".

Join Here

Royal Mail honour SOE Hero Noor Lanayat Khan 1914-1944

The Royal Mail have issued a new set of first class stamps on 10 "Remarkable Lives" who were born in 1914.

"The British-Indian secret agent, who served during World War Two, was dubbed the "Spy Princess". She was imprisoned, tortured and eventually shot after being sent into occupied France to help the resistance".

Noor was a descendent of Tipu Sultan, King of Mysore, one of the most dangerous opponents of British rule in India and like him a supporter of Indian Independence.

Despite being brought up as a pacifist, while training as a nurse in the second world war she felt that she was not doing enough "to fight the evil of Nazi" and joined the British forces.

She volunteered for the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and was sent to occupied France to help the Resistance fight the Nazi.  She is captured by the Germans and sent to the concentration camp at Dachau where she was murdered with 3 other female SOE agents. Her last words before being shot was "Liberte" - "Freedom!"

Hat tip Shiraz Socialist. 

Update: fascinating comments on Facebook on this post from one of our top UNISON stewards whose Mum served with "Norah" before she left for the SOE.  They possibly trained as radio operators together. Her Mum later went on to win a "Mention in Dispatches" for her work during D Day.

West Ham Labour Party GC and "a lot of love" for Royal Mail Strike 4 November

At our monthly West Ham Labour Party General Committee meeting last Thursday evening, we had Ryan Ward as our guest speaker. Ryan is a steward for the union CWU and has been a postal worker for the last 25 years. He had been up since 4.30am that morning.

Ryan spoke about the privatisation of Royal Mail and the strike to defend pay and conditions on Monday 4 November.

He criticised the luke warm support & private briefings against the CWU from some senior Labour figures compared with the grass root support shown at the Party conference last month.

The Sun (which Ryan regrets is read by some postal workers) has reported that Royal mail staff will pocket £3,000 in shares then go on strike. The truth is that they will not get any shares for at least 3 years! They will also lose the shares if they strike.

Royal Mail has not had a national strike for 3 years and the average pay is around £300 per week with little chance of overtime.  His partner also works for Royal Mail for similar money. Most of his wage is taken up with rent to a private landlord and on the rest they have to bring up 3 children.

He asked Party members to go to the picket line on November 4th to show support. Following this West Ham CLP TULO officer (and UNISON NEC member), Kim Silver, thanked Ryan for explaining about the dispute and offering the support of local members and trade unions. Party activists are also planning to hold stalls in Stratford High Street to support the dispute. Ryan was pleased with Kim's statement and said it was not often you got such support nowadays for this sort of action. 

In the Q&A that followed Ryan criticised Chuka Umunna MP for ducking out of a question on TV  whether Labour would re-nationalise Royal Mail if they won office. He thought that a commitment would have helped put off investors. He answered a question about what the CWU realistically expected from strike action by pointing out that the strike was about pay and conditions and that privitisation is not inevitable. Railtrack is now publicly owned again.

I made the same point to Ryan that I made to Andy Burnham MP the night before (see link) that we need to make the case for public ownership and the public sector ethos. Private companies are good at making things such as cars or smart phones but they are rubbish at running natural monopolies such as Royal Mail or health services such as hospitals.

After Ryan spoke we later had our MP Lyn Brown give her Parliamentary report (this is private and confidential). Lyn  was congratulated at the meeting for her recent appointment as a Shadow Minister for Communities and Local Government. 

Later I noticed this tweet from West Ham ward member and 2014 Forest Gate North Labour Candidate, Seyi Akiwowo, ‏"A lot of love in this room tonight for Ryan and his colleagues at Royal Mail @ WestHamLabour GC". 

London Labour Health Network Launch - Saving our NHS

On Wednesday evening I was at the launch of the London Labour Health Network at the House of Commons. This is a new Labour campaign group to protect NHS services in London.

London CLPs, MPs, AMs, Councillors with health briefs and affiliates were invited to the launch. I was part of the UNISON delegation.

Linda Perks, Vice Chair of London Labour Party and Regional Secretary for UNISON chaired the event with London Shadow minister, Sadiq Khan MP.

See London Labour Party report here while I tweeted on the event here. 

Sadiq opened the launch stressing the key role that the NHS will play in the elections next year in London and 2015. First speaker was Labour Lord, Phil Hunt who reminded everyone that Tory David Cameron was able to neutralise the issue of the NHS in 2010 due to his promise to keep it safe. He has failed to keep this promise and we must remind voters.

Linda Perks spoke about the NHS being the 2nd most important issue in London next to the cost of living crisis. In order to convince voters we need to make sure that the Party manifesto commits to the fair funding that will be necessary.  The London Labour Party will set up a  network of campaigners on health in London.

Labour Shadow Health Minister, Andy Burnham MP, officially launched the campaign. Andy said that Labour must lead the fight to save the NHS that they made and then saved in the last government.

He told us that we have to inspire people and stop agonising on our record in the last government.  Yes, we made mistakes, such as letting in the market but we should be proud of the NHS in 2010. We need to put people before profit, we need a public health service, we need to bring into the NHS  integrated care. Labour will repeal the Tory Health & Social Care Act. Labour needs to get this  message across to voters on their doorstep.

Andy then spent around 30 minutes in a wide ranging Q&A. I asked at the end that firstly we need to defeat the Tories in elections but also that we need to make the wider political case for publicly provided services and the public sector ethos.  This will stop the drift to the "market knows best" that did take place in the Party in recent years.

Andy broadly agreed and answered by saying he is not neutral over who should be the main provider of NHS services.  He compared the unnecessary privatisation of Royal Mail and the Tories intention to do the same with our NHS. Its time to question the mantra: public bad, private good.

Future Directions Striker speaks at UNISON London Regional Council

Yesterday was the UNISON London Regional Council meeting chaired by our Regional Convener, Gloria Hanson.

The first speaker was Alan Tate (left of picture) from the Communications union, CWU, who spoke about the privatisation of Royal Mail.

There was no need to do this - Royal Mail had been transformed in recent years and was making money. Why can Railtrack be publicly owned and still able to access the capital markets for investment but Royal Mail could not? The tax payers have been ripped off not only by the below value share offering but the loss of huge Royal Mail property assets across the Country.

CWU will go on strike November 4th if they cannot reach a deal on pay and to protect pay and conditions.

Next speaker was UNISON Senior National officer (not in picture) Donna Rowe-Merriman, who briefed us the Higher Education joint union strike over pay, which will take next Thursday 31 October. The pay claim is affordable and HE institutions can afford to pay more but choose not to while thousands of their directly employed staff are not even paid a living wage but exist on minimum wage rates. Further details of the strike action and regional rally's to follow. 

Final Speaker was Karen Shadwell (2nd from right), UNISON member of Rochdale branch. Karen is a disability support worker with high needs clients. She works for an organisation called "Future Directions" who are cutting her pay by nearly £100 per week.  She and her colleagues have been on strike for 29 days in recent months. Check out my past posts related to this dispute here, here and here. She was supported at this meeting by UNISON Local organiser, Karen Ellis.

Karen was an inspiration and received a standing ovation at the end of her speech. She had been up at 5am this morning in order to get here in time and was very nervous beforehand since  this was her first ever speech to such a meeting. Her speech was excellent. As her UNISON NEC member for Community, I offered her and her colleagues my support.

We have recently agreed in London for a donation  to the strike fund and sent a message of support. You can send messages of support and donations to Helen Harrison, branch secretary, Rochdale UNISON, 46 Richard Street, Rochdale, OL11 1DU. Email: unison@rochdale.gov.uk. Cheques can be made payable to Rochdale UNISON.

UNISON and her Future Directions had been to talk at ACAS on Friday and Monday. Hopefully a satisfactory result will be reached.

(2nd from left in picture is our London Equalities Convener Yvonne Green and behind her a bit obscured, Karen Ellis ). Hat tip photograph Karen Westwood.

West Ham Trade Unions for Labour

Picture is from last weeks relaunch of West Ham CLP Trade unions for Labour. This meeting was organised by West Ham TULO officer (and UNISON NEC member) Kim Silver.

Kim chaired the meeting and apologised for the lack of notice but emphasised that this was a planning meeting on how we can organise as trade unionists and build links between the Party and the Unions. All Party members who live or work in West Ham can participate (you do not have to belong to a union that is affiliated to the Party). We had 2 union members from East Ham present and apologies from others. Hopefully we can meet up as a Newham TULO in the future.

We discussed a number of possible trade union campaigns that we could support and work towards :-

Opposing the Royal Mail privatisation; Living wage; Employment rights; Blacklisting;  zero hour contracts; Collins Report, unpaid internship, saving the NHS, Welfare reform and housing.

I suggested that we should consider modelling ourselves on the socialist societies such as Fabians and Co-op. To not only campaign and build links with the Party but also have guest speakers, debates and even social events.

It was agreed that our first campaign should be to support the CWU and their likely strike action over the privatisation of Royal Mail. The CWU is currently balloting members which will end on 16 October 2013. If the strike goes ahead we can run stalls, hand leaflets and take petitions in Stratford High Street and  give practical help and assistance to local picket lines etc.

We also agreed to campaign for a Fair wage (Living wage, sickness benefits and pensions) for all workers in Newham - private and public sector.  To start this we will ask West Ham CLP to take forward its existing policy for Newham Council to be an accredited Living Wage employer by contacting the Labour Group and Campaign Forum about implementation.We will also ask for information regarding Zero hour contracts in Newham Council.

The meeting ended on a really positive and constructive note. While we are not in anyway part of the formal regional or national TULO structure nor a substitute for a trade council, I think that by organising in this way, we will help reconnect the unions with Labour at a local level.

The date of next meeting Tuesday 19 November.

Royal Mail Sell Off: Rip Off

Quote from the Father of Modern Economics, Adam Smith "A monopoly granted either to an individual or to a trading company has the same effect as a secret in trade or manufactures. The monopolists, by keeping the market constantly understocked, by never fully supplying the effectual demand, sell their commodities much above the natural price, and raise their emoluments, whether they consist in wages or profit, greatly above their natural rate."

Save Our Royal Mail

Check out website here to help save Royal Mail from privatisation. This is one of the campaigns that Newham TULO will be supporting.  Spread the word #SaveOurRoyalMail @SaveOurRM and sign petition https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/vince-cable-save-our-royal-mail/sponsors/new

Support the Postal Workers! - London Meeting 16 November

Sir Robin Wales: Forest Gate Labour meeting

Last night the two Labour Party wards (or branches) North & South Forest Gate took part in a little bit of an experiment. We merged both ward meetings and had as the guest speaker our Labour Mayor for Newham, Sir Robin Wales. Also we asked Party members to invite friends and neighbours (non Party members) to attend the meeting and listen to the Mayor and take part in the Q&A. It was all a little last minute but we had a good turnout of Party members and residents (about 32 I think) in Durning Hall, Forest Gate.

By-coincidence Durning Hall is right next door to the local Royal Mail sorting depot where I was planning to go with some members of Newham Labour Party TULO to show support for the CWU picket this morning (the strike was called off yesterday for further talks).

The presentation and Q&A lasted about an hour and a half. So this is only a summary of key issues and topics that Robin brought up. Also the usual health check that notes were made on my netbook and I am not a copy typist:-

The aim of the Council is to make Newham a place that people choose to stay, work and live. To have choice you need to have money. So we need to get people into work or better jobs. Need to improve not only economic capacity but personal capacity – aspiration and ambition. Robin thinks he and the local councillors are first and foremost community leaders representing the will of the people.

Need to ask local residents who want things such as subsidised housing from the Council - what can they offer back to the community in return?

He is worried about what might happen if the Tories win the next general election. Their plans are to regenerate estates by exporting the poor from the Tory boroughs into East London. They will use the Bankers crisis to make cuts.

There is now a much fairer allocations system for housing in Newham. There will be less queue jumping and more opportunities for local residents. We can’t continue mind to keep putting poor people into the same place. This just creates ghettos. We need the poor and the better off to live together.

Things are changing – Newham now has better than average ratings London ratings for resident satisfaction. There is a 0% increase in Council tax and the lowest rate in London.

Need to do much better in education but have amongst the best results for qualifications when weighted to allow for factors such as the high levels of poverty in parts of the borough.

The Mayor’s Employment Project – guaranteeing the long term unemployed that they will not be worse off if they take up a training course or job. Paid for by the Council.

The most important regeneration project in Newham is not the Olympics but the new retail and business centre next door “Stratford City”. This will have the biggest John Lewis outside the West End. We don’t want to make the mistake made with Canary Wharf which regenerated an area but created more jobs in Kingston than Tower Hamlets. It is agreed that public policy should be that East London wealth is brought up to the standard of the rest of London.

Free School dinners for all primary school children. This is criticised as being expensive but no kids should go hungry while at school trying to learn. Every child in Newham should be offered the chance to have and learn to play a musical instrument. Middle class kids have this opportunity - why not the working class kids? Free books also for all our children. Apparently the American County singer and Actress Dolly Parton is paying for half of this scheme!

“Local Space” the housing organisation set up by the Council with no financial help from the government which has bought 1000 homes and rented them out. After 5 years some of these homes will be sold and the money ploughed back into housing.

Labour Beliefs – there are 9 community forums in Newham. Last year £12 million was devolved to the forums to decide how this money should be spent locally.

He wants every community hall on a Saturday to be full of kids learning to dance, to have a lunch club run by elders, an after school clubs and other facilities for older teenagers to keep them out of trouble. No one community or faith will be supported by the council to build their own centres. They should rent space in existing Council centres and mix with the local community.

Robin finished by urging Labour to attract new people especially the young to join the Party to continue to serve our community.

There was a number of questions at the end upon opportunities for women, more youth clubs for older kids, English language teaching, education, quality of local proposed redevelopment, Olympics, planning and licensing (too many fast food outlets and off licences).

This was a good experiment which worked and we had an interesting debate with many contributions from non Party members. I think this idea will be expanded across the borough.

It was a just little surreal at times since during this fairly serious political discourse it was of course Bonfire night and the sound of fireworks going off outside could be heard from time to time. As well as the singing and happy clapping of the local Gospel church who were holding a service in a room below us. It was very Newham!

National Royal Mail Demo - Friday 17 July London

(Hat-tip thingy SERTUC) NATIONAL ROYAL MAIL DEMONSTRATION - FRIDAY 17 July 09 (Meet under Churchill’s Statue Parliament Square 12.30hrs). IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT ALL ATTEND.

The Demonstration will be: Meet under Churchill’s Statue Parliament Square 12.30hrs

Then a small delegation will go and hand a Giant Postcard at the BIS department in Victoria Street. While the rest of us head for the Rally in Central Hall

MAKE SURE YOU ATTEND AND hear the latest about the industrial action & WHAT the next moves ARE.