"Pension Costs and Charges" - UNISON National Delegate Conference 2017

I was tasked to speak on this motion 26 on behalf of the NEC at Conference last week but it did not receive sufficient prioritisation by branches and regions to be debated. 

Which is a shame since if we don't bring down the costs and charges of not only the Local Government Pension Scheme but all funded schemes and stop the rip offs then the future is bleak.

Next year. 

Anyway here is my speech. Hat tip Mr Meech.


"John Gary, NEC and Chair of the SGLC LGPS Forum

UNISON have been campaigning for the right to know what it is we are paying for the management of our money and finally the veil of hidden costs are being removed.

We made a significant breakthrough when we persuaded the Local Government Pension Scheme Advisory Board’s for England, Wales and Scotland to adopt a ‘Code of Cost Transparency’ and move toward the collection and analysis of all costs incurred by the 100 pension funds.

This is conference an amazing step forward for workers and our savings. There is only 1 other country in the world with that transparency of cost and that’s the Netherlands.

Last week we had the country’s largest fund manager and manager of the largest amount of LGPS assets. £30bn. Declare it is signing our code of cost transparency, Legal and General.

This means every worker that has Legal and General managing their pension fund can now legitimately ask for the same cost transparency.

In Britain people get a statement showing what they've invested during the year, the value of their fund a year ago and its value today. There is no attempt to strip out what has been gained in investment returns and what is then subtracted in charges, let alone what these various charges are for.

Without this information people can't evaluate whether their pension trustees of manager is doing their job.

It is not just individuals who need this information to select a decent pension fund. Thousands of smaller employers will soon have to provide pensions for their workers.

Most have little idea how to evaluate these complex charging structures, so could end up selecting inappropriate and expensive schemes, potentially leading to mis-selling accusations at a later state.

Pension charges are too high and too complex. If your car is serviced in a garage you get an itemised bill explaining what each charge is for, which part was replaced and what the labour charges are, all in pounds and pence. No one would quote the fee as a percentage of the value of your car, which would be meaningless. But this is what happens with pensions.

So £billions of our money leaks out of our funds and we are the losers, they are used to pay for the extravagant life styles of the city traders and fund managers.

This money is used to fund the Tory party – our money cutting our own throats. Conference everyone needs to pay attention to the trial of money that starts from our payroll.

The UK Government must be pushed by us to finally curb the worst mis-selling scandal in the history of British finance, greater than endowment mortgages, PPI, energy profiteering or even sub-prime mortgages.

I refer to the legalised theft of billions of pounds from citizens' pension funds through excessive charges, a scandal that has been going on for at least 20 years and has ensured a miserable retirement for millions of older people.

Please support the motion

Hat tip cartoon

#UNDC "Why we need to build a new housing consensus for affordable and decent homes for all"

This is the speech I gave on Thursday on behalf of the NEC about  the Housing motion  put forward by London Region and my branch.

"Conference/Chair

John Gray, Community NEC, speaking in favour of motion 36 as amended.  I happen also to be a housing officer for 24 years whose substantive post is to help manage a large estate in East London with 7 high rise tower blocks.

Conference, for far too long, housing has been the political dog that did not bark. 

The general election campaign changed the public debate in this country and showed that finally 38 years after the Tories began dismantling public housing - and denying millions of people their basic human right to a home – the tide of public opinion is turning.

Today there are 1,500,000 fewer homes available for a rent, that people on low incomes can afford, than there was 38 years ago - and the population has grown dramatically since.

 I can say that this is why families with children, the elderly and disabled end up being housed on the 18th floor of a tower block.

The scandal that surrounds the Grenfell House tragedy lies not just in the repeated failure of government to listen to and act on the advice they received but in the Conservative political mantra that regulation is ‘bad’.

The Tories 38 year strategy of dismantling public housing has been the biggest privatisation in this country’s history. The Right to Buy was misnamed from the start – it was a Right to a Discount – and 38 years on, we find that huge numbers of the homes that have been sold are now owned by private landlords, in one case the son of the Tory Minister that introduced the Right to Buy, and often in companies registered in tax havens.

And the Tories knew that caps to the local housing allowance would drive low income households out of central London – this is social cleansing – and if the Tories have their way, it is what will happen in Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Newcastle too

In this parliament over £100bn will be spent paying housing benefit to private landlords and it won’t produce a single new home.

Conference, how can people afford to buy when house prices are rising at 5%, 6%, 7% a year and wages are growing at 1% or 2%?

Conference, this motion provides the basis for UNISON to play its role in ending the dismantling of public housing and beginning a new era of providing quality, safe council and housing association homes with good space standards at rents people can actually afford.

Please support this motion.

Grenfell Tower Fire - London Hazards Centre

Hat tip Phil Lewis Chair of London Hazards & in today's UNISON NDC regional newsletter "London Calling".

"Here is some information I was able to get hold of

2009 – Lakanal House tower block catches fire killing 6 people. The local authority is prosecuted for lapses in fire safety. A review is promised by the Labour government after pressure from the Fire Protection Association (FPA).

2010 – Building Regulations Act is published, including provisions for fire safety. Conservatives win election, a review is promised by the new government after more pressure from the FPA and warnings that the BR act does not go far enough.

2013 – Boris Johnson overrules the ruling body of the London Fire Brigade and uses legal action to inflict £29m in cuts. Closing 10 fire stations, cutting firefighters by 552, losing 14 fire engines and cutting minimum staffing levels from 5 to 4. By the time he steps down as Mayor of London he inflicts a further £100m in cuts to £130m total and the loss of 7000 firefighters. Fire prevention measures carried out by the service drop by over 25%. When challenged by a committee on fire safety on how cutting the fire service would not increase deaths, Boris replies “get stuffed”.

2013 – All Party Parliamentary Group on Fire Safety and Rescue produces a report strongly recommending installation of fire suppression systems and sprinklers in 4000 tower blocks throughout Britain. The Grenfell residents action group publishes a report warning that their landlord is putting their safety at risk by restricting the access ways to their car park. They are ignored by their landlord.

2013 – 2016 Conservative housing ministers sit on All Party report without action, promising they are “looking at it”, including housing minister Gavin Barwell.

2016 – Conservatives vote against a Labour motion to make sure all landlords and housing associations ensure residences are fit for human occupation, including provisions for fire safety. The motion is denied by 312 votes to 219. 72 of the MP’s voting against are landlords. The Grenfell residents action group publish a report warning people will die in a fire before the landlord takes notice of their poor fire safety provisions. They are ignored by their landlord.

2017 – Ex housing minister Gavin Barwell becomes Prime Minister Theresa May’s chief of staff. He never actions the All Party Parliamentary report recommendations. Grenfell Tower is reduced to rubble with the deaths of at least 79+residents as a fire spreads through the building in 4 minutes. It has no fire suppression system or sprinklers. The stairwell is not adequate for a full building evacuation. The emergency lighting is missing from half of the floors. The fire service struggle to reach the building due to previous car park modifications causing access issues as warned by the resident action group in 2013.

Philip Lewis

UNISON National Delegate Conference 2017 - Tuesday

My Conference day started with a short jog up and down the famous Brighton beach. The weather was hot even at 7.30am.

At 8.30am we had our first UNISON NEC meeting to discuss and (hopefully) agree on any outstanding matters or policy positions.

Conference itself starts at 10am on its first day.  Firstly there is the "welcome to conference" speech by the Senior Vice President, Carol Sewell. She introduces all our international guest visitors.

Followed by Standing Order Committee (SOC) reports 1 and 2 (it is a long standing tradition at NDC to play reference back ping pong with SOC).

This is followed by a presentation and vote on our annual report and our year end financial statement. Our first motion of conference was 18 "Stepping up the campaign against bullying and harassment".

During lunch I went to the UNISON "There for You" AGM as a NEC member of the charities board of trustees. After lunch there was another round of ping pong and further motions debated including the 55 "UNISON and the WASPI campaign" about the rip of pensions by this government for many women.

Our General Secretary, Dave Prentis, gave a very powerful speech during which he thanked our emergency workers for all they had done in recent times and talked about the unexpected loss of his comrade, our President Eric Roberts.  After the speech I could see from the NEC platform a number of delegates wiping tears from their eyes and there was a (genuine) standing ovation by Conference.

In the afternoon there were more debates. Conference finished at 5pm. On the way back to my accommodation I was stopped and "persuaded" to go an excellent fringe on "Pensions and climate change".

UNISON National Delegate Conference 2017 - Monday Evening

Comrades together picture from this evening outside the Holiday Inn Hotel in Brighton after the UNISON London Region delegates meetings.

Our ace Regional Conveyor, Yvonne Green, is on my left with Housing Association branch delegate Mitsy on her left and Croydon delegate Kia, on my right.

Conference starts tomorrow morning and although I am here as UNISON NEC, I have been busy supporting my Housing Association Branch delegates with hotel bookings problems and getting ready to speak on our housing motion 36 which is high up on the "snake" (UNISON conference jargon. Don't ask it will blow your mind)

All four of our branch delegates are confidant and articulate black women workers who have spoken at previous conferences and I have no doubt, whatsoever, they will participate fully in the next few days.  

Democracy in the Workplace: Newham Compass Tuesday 20 June

Shame this clashes with UNISON National Delegate Conference. I don't think I have met Scott but Janet is a very experienced and thoughtful trade union official and also chairs Trade Union Share Owners.