Reflections on UNISON National Delegate Conference 2015.

It's now been over a week since the end of UNISON National Delegate Conference (NDC)  in Glasgow and I have just about recovered from the traditional post conference lergy.

This is what happens after being locked up for 4 days in what is really a very large shed, with dodgy air conditioning and thousands of other people.

NDC is one of the largest trade union events in the world. It was announced at conference that there was over 3000 delegates and visitors. The largest number ever registered which is interesting considering the challenges that unions, especially in the public sector face.

There are my personal views and reflections of what I actually think was one of the most successful UNISON conferences I have been to even though of course I have just a few little moans.

I was there as an elected member of the UNISON National Executive Council for Community (Housing Association and Voluntary Sector). My region Greater London, had over 200 delegates and my Branch, Housing Associations, had 4 delegates and had 3 ordinary and one emergency motion accepted for conference.

Two of our delegates managed to speak during conference and the other two tried a number of times but were knocked out by other delegates moving points of order to push conference business on. Most UNISON branches do not send any motions to conferences nor do they have any delegates speaking. So our branch still did well to represent the views of our rank and file members but we need to think again how we arrange speakers in conference to try and make sure that important debates are not closed down too early simply because some activists want their pet motions to be heard.

I admit to be a conference junkie and enjoyed reading all the flyers and the newsletters and listening to all the debates, even to those who try to explain how the revolution and a land of milk and honey is just around the corner, if only we demanded a "general strike". If only it was so simple.

There was also some amusing calls for unity by those who then went on to attack the unions lay leadership, our national officers, the Labour Party and uncle Tom Cobley.

Others appear to not realise that Labour has been out of Government since 2010 and that the Tories were actually re-elected in May for another 5 years.

Instead of complaining constantly that the Labour Party is not going to be the 5th International, we should be making sure that our members are supported and encouraged to further our union aims and values within our own political wing.

The vast majority of speakers and debates were fantastic and UNISON should be very proud of its delegates and their informed, intelligent and often witty contributions about the great issues of the day.

There is a genuine debate to be had about the future direction of the union and how we support and protect our members and strive for change. I feel confident that we can win battles if we choose carefully and don't seek out cliffs to march over in search of more "glorious defeats".

Our General Secretary, Dave Prentis, made it clear that we were prepared to take on the Government. We survived 2010 and we will survive 2015. He promised to increase number of stewards, treble the number of fighting fund organisers, double our legal funds and take a national lead in campaigning and protest.

We also had fantastic international speakers and fringe events.  Brilliant stalls and exhibitions in the UNISON zone. We even had our own demo and lobby outside Glasgow City Hall in support of sacked SECC UNISON steward Robert O'Donnell and striking Glasgow Homeless caseworkers.

I chaired a fringe on the Local Government Pension Scheme and spoke twice as a NEC member. Firstly to move the composite on Pensions on their behalf and then in support of the re-prioritised composite on Housing. Both composites had motions from my branch incorporated in them. Last year none of the motions I was going to speak upon came up so I did not speak. Such is life.

I thought my fellow NEC trustee on the UNISON staff pension fund, Lucia McKee, was one of our great lay Presidents and chair of conference. Lucia was fair minded but took no nonsense and was a good humoured but to the point champion of conference. I am a cynic about some things at times but am so proud that UNISON continues to grow its activists and show time and time again that genuine working class women and men can prove to be great leaders of our union.

At the end of conference the new NEC met for the first time and we elected our President for the year, former school meals cook and long time Labour Councillor, Wendy Nichols. London Ambulance Service Branch secretary, Eric Roberts, is now the senior Vice President and West Mids, Carol Sewell, was also elected as the new Vice President.

I eventually got home in London just before midnight and have spent the last week since largely coughing and spluttering with conference lergy. 

#uNDC15 Housing Composite

"President, Conference, John Gray, National Executive Committee speaking in favour of Composite F on Housing on behalf of the NEC

Conference, in that wonderful East London expression, it is the “bleedin’ obvious”, that housing is a key issue for our union.

Many of you here today, like me, work for housing organisations. So it has on the a direct impact on the terms and conditions of many members but all of us, regardless of whether we rent or buy, have to have somewhere to live, and lay down our hat.

So in a time of rapid change in the sector and a national housing crisis in terms of demand, quality, affordability and supply, as a union, we must to have a compelling and convincing political and campaigning strategy.

This strategy must have as a central plank the simple truth that we have not been building enough homes. For the last 5 years we have been building less that than half the homes we need to meet supply. But in truth, undersupply has been a growing problem for decades.

We must not only make the case for more and better homes but hammer the point to all political parties, that the only way to meet need is for the resumption of the post war political consensus, that it is the responsibility of the state to ensure that its people are decently housed.

It is hard to believe, conference, but in even my lifetime the Conservative Party, the tories, used to compete with Labour on who could build the most Council homes and who would charge the lowest rents.

To build quality homes that people can afford needs money and it needs subsidy. You need money up front to pay for it and you need a subsidy to make it affordable if you are on a low income. This is an unquestionable truth and therefore so is the need for a progressive system of taxation to pay for it.

Even after the disaster of May 7, this is not totally pie in the sky. Tory voters complain that their adult children cannot afford to leave the family home, that if they rent there is no money left over to save for a deposit. They know that expensive, insecure short term lets destroys communities and damages our economy. We must continue to press the national interest case for more and cheaper homes

Conference, the Composite sets out a comprehensive programme and strategy of campaign work which the NEC and this union is committed to campaign around, let me reiterate them - an increase in the supply of housing, particularly social housing; improving the quality of existing homes; effective regulation in the private rented sector; campaigning for a “living rent” – based on a system of rent controls alongside measures including landlord regulation and licensing, more secure tenancy agreements, and long-term solutions to welfare reform, including abolishing the hated bedroom tax.

Conference, please support this composite"

#uNDC15 - Branch support for composite on Pensions

More stuff from UNISON conference. I moved the Pensions Composite on Wednesday and then Doreen was one of the supportive speakers. Our original branch motion on pensions was one of those composited. It is all a bit confusing to those outside the union bubble but welcome to my world. 

"President, Conference. Doreen Davies, Greater London Housing Association Branch speaking in favour of Composite D.

Conference, campaigning for decent pensions, was one of the major reasons for the birth of trade unions in the public sector. The reasons why our trade union ancestors fought for pensions are exactly the same reasons as today.

Decent Pensions are and have always been expensive and the simple truth is unless we can make our employer pay enough money into it then we will end up living in poverty when we grow old.

What we now find is that this Tory government, in order to please its friends and financiers in the City of London, are trying to not only destroy the existing pensions built up by our members but at the same time as they are trying to destroy our pension futures by allowing employers to pay peanuts into our pensions.

Conference, be scared, be very, very scared. There is an army of thieves out there actively planning to cheat you out of your money. On holidays in Spain this summer don’t be surprised if you find yourself being lured into a meeting with someone not to discuss timeshare but how they are going to “liberate” your pension.

Conference, we cannot trust the City of London to look after out interests. Do you remember past miss-selling frauds of personal pensions, endowments and the current the loan insurance scandal.

You cannot trust this Government either to look after your interests. Remember a majority of money to fund the Conservative Party comes from City interests and hedge funds who have been rubbing their hands in glee at recent changes and will be profiteering at your expense. .

Conference, you can only rely on your union to protect you and your interests. Conference, please support this motion today but next week, conference, support campaign to save your pension and for a decent and safe pension for all. Thank you. 

#uNDC15 "Composite D Pensions"

"Chair, Conference, John Gray, National Executive Member, moving Composite D on Pensions on behalf of the NEC

Conference, A decent and safe pension in retirement is vital to ensure people are able to live with dignity into their old age.

This motion highlights some of the current pension pitfalls and dangers you face and what we have to do to make sure people have enough money to live on, in their retirement.

The first danger area is the new so called “right” to cash in your pension pot.

Pensions were hard fought for in this country and successive governments rewarded employers and workers who saved into a pension with significant tax breaks - this is because saving for retirement rather than spending now, is often a hard choice - especially when making ends meet is hard enough day by day.

Until the recent Tory changes, you could not have more than 25% of your pension in a lump sum, since its main purpose is to save for security in retirement.

But now, under new legislation, from April this year, anyone over 55 can convert up to 100% of their pensions into cash.

Sounds tempting doesn’t it? But Conference there are a series of traps designed to rob you and your family of security in retirement. UNISON is deeply concerned about this development.

One of the first questions we have to ask is who really benefits?

Well certainly the government, as it will be able to get much more tax revenue from a one-off lump sum – up to a whopping 75 per cent of the pension pot could be taxable and much of that could be at the higher tax rate. A nice little earner for the George Osborne certainly.

This so called “pension freedom” to be robbed applies to what is called defined contribution schemes - which an increasing number of our members are in - BUT the majority of our members, who are in defined benefit schemes such as the LGPS could also withdraw their money from their current scheme and transfer it into an inferior and insecure scheme just to access this new ability to cash it in.

This would mean exchanging a state guaranteed, inflation proofed income and all associated benefits (such as life assurance, ill health and dependants pension) for a taxable insecure lump sum - swapping security for insecurity in retirement. For the vast majority of people this is a bad deal.

But the dangers don’t stop there.

Research suggests there may be real pressure for people to sacrifice their security for others. There is the real risk of vulnerable pensioners being coerced into cashing in their pension pots for someone else’s financial gain or greed

Let us also make no mistake that Pension scammers and fraudsters are jumping up and down with joy at this new measure – the unwary will find their pension has been reduced by extortionate one off charges, annual fees and that their money is now tied up abroad or lost entirely to a scam.

And we can’t ignore that our funded occupational schemes are also themselves put at risk by this policy.

A well managed pension fund runs on the basis of expected cash in to cash out ratios. If a new wave of pensioners start cashing in their pensions then, in the short-term this will cause a significant cash flow risk to the schemes.

The government absolutely knows the risks involved which is why it has made it mandatory for independent financial advice to be taken before cashing your pension pot in; but a telephone advice line will not stop people being seduced into choices that later prove completely disastrous.

So what about the state pension and state backed auto-enrolment schemes - can we rely on them?

Research shows that the UK has one of the least adequate pensions in the whole of the EU.

17 European countries do better than us in terms of the overall risk of pensioner poverty including Romania, Latvia and Slovakia.

It is clear that, as a minimum, the rate of state pension should be no less than the official level of poverty.

Auto enrolment is a welcome step forward in encouraging employers and workers to save towards their retirement but while the minimum employer rate of contribution remains so low it will not do nearly enough to guarantee an adequate retirement income.

That is why, as the motion sets out, we must work with the all relevant bodies to campaign for an urgent increase in minimum employer contributions, combined with a state pension at least equal to the official poverty level of £175 per week, and why we must organise a member information campaign explaining the dangers of the new rights to be robbed

Conference I move (hat tip photo Rab Smith)

UNISON National Delegate Conference 2015 - opens

UNISON President Lucia McKeever has just opened our National Delegate Conference which this year takes place in Glasgow.

This is our Union's AGM and "Parliament" which decides rules, finances and policy for the forthcoming year.

There are around 2,000 delegates and visitors from all over the United Kingdom and a number of international guests.

I am here as the UNISON National Executive Committee member for Community (members who work for Housing Associations or the voluntary sector).

As usual I will try and post on as many speeches, fringes and events as possible. Sometimes these posts may not be in strict date or time order.

Personal opinion as always.

Some home truths about Tory "Pensions Freedoms": UNISON National Delegate Conference Composite 2015

My UNISON branch have agreed to composite (merge) this motion with similar ones at this years' National Delegate Conference.

Millions of Brits face double trouble.

Firstly, employers are not putting enough into most pension schemes which means workers will retire in poverty and secondly, even before they retire, they face being ripped off and conned out of their inadequate savings pots.

The Tories appear not to care about the financial misery and mayhem that they are causing.

"The Westminster government announced in its last Budget that it planned to allow all those who have been contributing to Defined Contribution (DC) pension arrangements, the option of being able to take their whole pot of money as a cash sum from 6 April 2015.

Up to then contributors could take a maximum of 25% of their pot as a tax free cash sum but have to use the 75% of the value of their pot to buy a pension for life (When contributors used a lump sum to buy a pension this is usually called an annuity).

From April contributors who are over 55 can retire and decide to take the whole pot as cash in which case only 25% will be tax free and 75% will be reduced by their marginal rate of tax (20% for most tax payers and 40% for upper band tax payers)

The government plans to extend this option to members of Defined Benefit Pension Schemes that have funds including the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), Social Housing Pension Fund and the Pensions Trust.

Members of unfunded pension schemes like the NHS Pension Scheme will not have this option.

Conference expresses deep concern regarding these proposals. Conference should be aware that converting pension into a cash sum may be in the best interests of a small minority of members but there are serious dangers that our members' and their schemes will face.

The risks posed by these proposals are:

1)Likely to cause cash flow problems for the funded schemes if a significant number of members transfer their money out of the funds;

2)Generally not in best interests of scheme member as they are likely to be paying tax where otherwise they would not - but temptation will be great;

3)Likely to worsen annuity rates further so for many members of Defined Contribution arrangements there will be no choice but to take it as cash and suffer tax;

4)Experts anticipate a new market in pension scams to target these lump sums;

5)Potential for vulnerable pensioners to be coerced into cashing in their pensions for someone else’s financial gain.

However, Conference believes the most pressing pension issue at the present time is not being addressed at all. The biggest vulnerability for future pensioners lies with the inadequate level of employer contributions to Defined Contribution arrangements where there is no benefit guarantee and the member takes all the risks.

Low employer contributions mean that the pensioners' retirement pot is going to be unable to provide adequate income in retirement. It is the fundamental reason why pension pots in the UK are so small.

Conference recognises that UNISON negotiates hard with employers who are closing their defined benefit schemes both Final Salary and Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) and replacing it with a DC arrangement, to ensure an employer contribution is as high as possible. However, there is the likelihood that if the employer contribution for the majority of those saving for their retirement continues to be totally inadequate, the pressure to dumb down all pension provision in the UK will continue.

Conference believes that it doesn't have to be this way. In Australia where they have had compulsory employer contributions for nearly 20 years the situation is very different:

a)Median size of pension pot in Australia is equivalent to £100,000 (A$ 181,000);
b)Median size of pension pot in the UK is nearer to £20,000.

This is because in the UK the minimum employer contribution under Auto Enrolment is currently 1% of a band of earnings rising to 3% by 2017 while in Australia the minimum employer contribution has been 9% for years expected to rise to 12% soon.

Conference recognises the need to obtain properly funded occupational pension schemes but further believes that the failure of successive Governments to set a basic state pension at least equal to the official poverty line figure (currently £175 a week) will result in pensioner hardship.

Conference calls on the National Executive Council to:

i)Start a campaign for a decent pension for all workers to exert pressure on politicians of all parties to recognise the problem of inadequate minimum employer pension contributions and agree a road map to increase minimum employer pension contributions to 12% as soon as reasonably possible;

ii)Organise a member information campaign which explains the potential dangers, pros and cons of cashing in pension fund savings and where possible promotes the benefits of remaining in the LGPS;

iii)Lobby the Financial Conduct Authority and the Pensions Regulator to ensure proper safeguards for members of pension schemes that will allow members to choose to take all their benefits as cash;

iv)Campaign for an increase in the basic state pension to at least the poverty line figure;

v)Work with the TUC, STUC, WTUC and ICTU and the National Pensioners Convention.