Labour Link, Diversity & the Housing Crisis: Waltham Forest LG UNISON AGM

Last week I was honoured to be invited to be a guest speaker at Waltham Forest Local Government branch AGM. This was my speech.

"Thank you Chair for inviting me and giving me the opportunity to speak today about a mixed bag of important issues:- the importance of UNISON Labour Link, encouraging diversity in UNISON and what to do about the housing crisis in London.

Firstly, a little bit about me. I actually live in Newham but only about 200m from the boarder with LBWF and I work in social housing.

I used to work for Tower Hamlets Council and was a shop steward then eventually a local government assistant branch secretary for many year but was tupd over in 2007 to a Housing Association.

I am now the branch secretary of the London Housing Association branch, your London UNISON regional lay treasurer and Chair of the London UNISON Labour Link Committee. I also happen to be the UNISON NEC member for Community and in my spare time, a Labour Councillor for West Ham ward in Newham.

Let me start by talking about UNISON Labour Link. I think that people should never forget that it was the trade unions who were the driving force behind the creation of the Labour Party in the early 20th century. The unions realised that they had to have a political voice and legal support in Parliament in order to defend workers.

In UNISON you have a choice of 2 separate political funds to join. Whether to affiliate to the Labour Party via affiliating to Labour Link or into the non Labour Party “General political fund”. It is your choice unlike many other trade unions and I fully respect the wishes of members who want the union to campaign but do not support the Labour Party.

To complicate the matter the arrangements will change in future months because the Tory anti trade union act passed last year, is trying to damage the Labour Party by making it difficult for unions to fund the Party but this basic separation and choice will remain.

But let me make clear the role of UNISON Labour link is not just to support the Labour Party locally and nationally, it is to change the Party, and make it electable again by being more pro-worker and pro-union. The way to do this is not for the unions to just offer warm words and wave cheques but to encourage rank and file members to join and fully participate in the Party.

Look, the Labour Party is not and never has been perfect and did lose its way for many years. However, to be clear, I firmly believe that the worse day of any Labour Government is far, far better than the best day of any Tory government.

You as local government workers know this better than most. Not only have you had 8 years of Tory austerity forced on you, 8 years of effective pay cuts, 8 years of job cuts, 8 years of massive rises in rents and mortgages, but you are trying heroically to deliver services to your residents with budgets slashed and ripped to pieces. You see, this should be of no surprise to you because this is what Tories do when in power. This is why the unions had to have a political voice at Parliament. This is why you need to join the Party and campaign to put Jeremy Corbyn into Number 10 Downing Street ASAP.

Next a little bit about getting more involved in UNISON especially in all our self organised groups. There is a brilliant course run by London UNISON called “lost in Unison” and I recommend it if you are considering getting more active in the union, since to be honest, it is more than a bit complicated. We activists speak too much jargon and frankly, we just put off ordinary members from participating and becoming active.

Remember, many of you may not want to be a shop steward or a safety rep but you have the skills and life experiences necessary to offer to the union, whether that is by for example helping to organise Black members or young members in the branch. I am sure that your branch will be more than happy to speak to you and advise you on who to become more active not only in the branch but the region and national unison.  Your London UNISON convener for Equalities is Liz Baptist who is standing for Labour in Waltham Forest in May.

Finally – the Housing Crisis in London and what can we do about it. LG workers have had a double whammy of massive pay cuts and massive increase in housing costs.

Look, we all know that the fundamental reason for this housing crisis is political. The Tories simply do not believe anymore it is the role of the state to intervene in the Housing market and it is down to individuals not the state to provide housing and people will have to afford what the market dictates and like it or lump it.

So we need a change of government for any long term solution. It is not enough for us to just sit on our hands and wait for Jeremy to become Prime Minister. But it is difficult since the only way you can build truly affordable homes for rent and sale in London is if someone steps in and pays a subsidy or a grant to bring down the cost of that home.

So until we have a Labour government, who will tax the better off and the rich to provide that subsidy we have a problem. But you can make changes and if I can give some examples of the changes that you, here and now can do to make a difference, not fundamental change, but make a difference by working with your local Labour party and unison.

In Newham there was a large key worker project for public sector workers including many local government care workers. The housing association, One Housing is the landlord and they proposed to increase overnight rents by up to 40%. I was proud to support the residents with the help of Labour Party activists, Councillors and other trade unions to fight these proposals and with a couple of months, One Housing put the rent rises were put on hold. To be clear this was the resident’s victory since they self organised but it is an example of what unions and Labour party members can achieve.

Another example was a recent planning victory in my ward west ham. There was a proposal to redevelop the Ford motor showrooms and only 25% were to be “affordable”. Local Labour Party including UNISON members of my own branch led the fight against the developers and we demanded at least 35-50% affordable and I am pleased that the planning application was knocked back at the last committee meeting. I told the developers that we want to work with them, we don’t want a large plot of building land lying empty but we will fight you every step of the way, if you don’t include enough social housing. I think they got the message.

So, finally my message to you all is don’t get angry with this Tory Government, get organised. Organise in UNISON and get organised in your Labour Party and I hope to see you all at a victory rally for Prime Minister Corbyn, sometime very soon".

Later this month I will be speaking at the Richmond Local Government AGM and debating consequences of Brexit with Vince Cable MP. My own branch AGM on 20 March will take place in the House of Commons and we have Angie Rayner MP as our guest speaker. 

"Bankers' pay has become bit of a Ponzi scheme" Ed Balls (& Football Shame)

Sense from Ed Balls and Vince Cable except I do not think that any footballer is worth £300k per week, especially since Manchester United like all other clubs treat their low paid staff with contempt and don't pay everyone a living wage. Wayne Rooney should be ashamed of himself for getting so much while so many get so little from the Club.

Hat tip Observer :-

"Shadow chancellor echoes business secretary, saying most top executives and bankers would do the work for half the money

Pay for bankers and top executives has become "a bit of a Ponzi scheme" and most of them would do the work for half the money, Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, has said.

But the Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney was worth his reported £300,000 a week because of his exceptional talent, Balls said in an interview on BBC Radio 5 Live's Pienaar's Politics on Sunday.

Balls was responding to a comment from Vince Cable, the business secretary, who said he could not understand why bankers needed to earn £1m a year.

Rooney's pay was understandable, Balls said. "There's only one Wayne Rooney and he plays for Manchester United, he could go anywhere in the world."

Very-high salaries for exceptional entrepreneurs like the late Steve Jobs, whose iPhones are sold around the world, were also acceptable, he suggested. But Balls said he agreed with Cable about some bankers' salaries being impossible to defend.

"In some parts of our economy – when it's not a great idea or when it's not the talent of Wayne Rooney – then you do think to yourself these massive multimillion-pound salaries, it feels like a bit of a Ponzi scheme," Balls said.

It was time to "get back to a bit of rationality", he continued. "If somebody actually was to say stop a minute, let's stand back and say is this really sensible and rational, most of those people would do those jobs for half the money."

Cable told the Observer: "I don't understand why people need a million quid a year. I've asked one or two of the more sympathetic bankers to explain it to me. The response has been: 'It's not that I need the money, it is because others get it so I should too.' That is a ludicrous mindset. What on earth do these people think they are doing?"

TUC Pension Trustee Conference 2012: Making Pensions Work For People

Picture is of Pension minister, Steve Webb MP, address the opening of the 2012 TUC Trustee conference at Congress House.

Steve spoke about his recent discussion paper on "Reinvigorating Workplace Pensions" which I will post upon another time.

He thought that auto enrolment had been a success so far with far less "opt outs" than feared (Great news).

He wants reform to allow people who build up small "pension pots" with a number of different employers to have the "pots follow the member" and consolidate into big fat pots (Good idea).

The new state pension scheme must be above the means tested income support level or people will not have the confidence to save for their pensions in case it is all eaten up by reductions in benefit (yep).

He tried to explain what his big pension idea "defined ambition" will mean in practise. While he would prefer pensions to be guaranteed and salary related, what can be done if employers don't want to offer such schemes? (you can force them Steve thought I).

In Q&A my question was about his comments in Pensions press in June this year, that accounting standards in defined benefit schemes were "a complete nightmare" and "killer" for pension schemes. While he also promised to "not stand idly by" and do something. Yet today schemes such as the Pension Trust are still using these completely artificial standards, to justify kicking employers out of schemes and forcing the closure of decent pensions for no good reason. These so called pension "deficits" do not exist.

Steve answered by saying that he wouldn't quite agree that the deficits did not exist, he had not forgotten his words but he cannot say anymore at the moment except that he hasn't forgotten what he has said. He also said that he had met with a number of big charities recently to talk about their difficulties with the Pension Trust.

Well, wait and see I think. I am told that it is Vince Cable as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions who is responsible for addressing such accountancy standards ("Mark to Market" and "Smoothing").  I don't know and frankly don't care who does what as long as something is done. Perfectly good pension schemes are going to wall every week in this country, while those responsible appear to wring their hands as ordinary workers are being cheated out of a decent retirement!

You can check my twitter posts of the whole conference here  It was probably one of the best TUC ones I have attended. I will try and post more during the next few days. Its a busy time for pensions. 

TUC 2012: Ed Balls speaks to Congress

Shadow Labour Chancellor Ed Balls addressed Congress followed by a Q&A.

He was introduced as the man according to David Cameron who is "the most annoying person in British Politics".

Ed started off well by taking the mick out of himself over that title. He then talked about how there is an economic alternative to the Coalition policies, there always has been.

He spelt out the Labour Party 5 point plan. While is all good stuff, I don't think you can really call it an alternative policy to getting us out of recession. He admitted that he understood that the unions cannot just wait for the return of a Labour Government but warned that the Tories are desperate for the unions to go on strike because they will then have someone to blame for the stalled recovery.

"Unlike Nick Clegg we will not make spending promises that we don't know we can deliver. We need credibility with the public". He argued that protecting jobs is more important than pay rises.  

"We need radical Banking reform. It was not too many teachers and health workers that caused Lehman Brothers to bust in New York" He finished by saying that the unions should never stop offering "strong advice" to him and the shadow cabinet (no chance of that) and that "the Labour Party must win back the trust of working people".

During the speech he had a little bit of heckling but was given some more stick during the Q&A. He agreed with Vince Cable that lack of demand was the biggest problem facing the economy but the government does nothing about it. Picture is of Liz Cameron from UNISON asking him the question (to loud cheers) why when she as a public sector worker has had a pay freeze for 3 years at then same time that inflation has increased by 12 % - he won't support a pay rise?

Tired of Banker’s Bonuses? It’s about time we all Have Our Say on High Pay!

"Over the past decade, while executive pay has grown by over 323%, the average UK earnings have grown by a mere 54%. Across the nation, ordinary workers have felt outraged by the continuing gap between the lowest and the highest paid earners but felt powerless to do anything. This growing inequality is particularly distasteful considering the current economic situation, with high unemployment and pension cuts creating hardship for many.

But how can we tackle this culture of excess? Vince Cable thinks that it is up to the shareholders of companies to hold the boardroom to account. However, despite the vast increases in bonuses and single performance incentives, not to mention “Golden Hellos” (a hefty sum paid to attract talent to the company), average levels of shareholder dissent have been stuck at around 9%, with outright defeat for these pay packages at annual general meetings remaining a rare spectacle.

We all have the power to influence these shareholders, who are mainly compromised of institutional investors. These anonymous ‘institutions’ are, among others, the pension funds and insurance companies who look after our retirement savings. In other words, the owners of corporate Britain are no longer a few rich individuals: they include anyone with pension savings, or around 11 million of us. This is our money!

The responsible investment charity FairPensions has launched ‘Your Say on HighPay’ at www.fairpensions.org.uk/highpay This online action tool will email your pension fund or ISA provider telling them you want them to vote against excessive pay – and asking them to let you know about it. 

Whether the ‘Shareholder Spring’ proves to be a one-season wonder or something more permanent may yet be up to us". (Great guest post by MM).

Shareholder Spring: Employee reps to stop crony capitalism

I was astonished to read in today's Evening Standard (of all papers) that its City Editor, James Ashton, supported as the only "surefire way for any board to keep in touch with reality" over executive pay, is to appoint employee representatives to the

board "to keep them honest".

The background to this is the revolts by shareholders (or rather asset managers not by and large the actual share owners) at Company Annual General Meetings (AGM) over excessive and unearned top executive pay. Yesterday the boss of insurance giant Aviva was forced to resign after his pay package was rejected at its AGM. So were the bosses of drugs giant AstraZeneca and Trinty Mirror. Tomorrow apparently the British Gas Centrica CEO is also in big trouble.

At a pension conference recently on executive pay I asked Government Cabinet minster Vince Cable why it was thought a good thing that employee representatives were legally required to make up to 50% of the trustee board of a company pension fund, making decisions that could make or break the organisation, yet there was no requirement to have even one such rep on the same company remuneration committee? He claimed to support the principle of employee reps but that the role of a pension trustee was very different to being on a company remuneration committee (which is completely rubbish not least since many employer reps on pension schemes also sit on you know what committees!)

I must admit to agreeing with James Ashton's conclusion that the employee representation "model has been proved to work elsewhere in Europe. What better way for the chairman to keep in touch with the shopfloor than to have the shopfloor turn up in his boardroom once a month? It could make for some uncomfortable meetings".

Update: I'll post on the campaign by Fair Pensions on how ordinary people can take action against executive High Pay soon.

Sleeping with the enemy: Ken's offer to Vince about bringing down the Coalition

Today there was a London Labour Party Manifesto meeting at Congress House.  I missed the morning session due to my Council surgery and a Fair Pensions Training on shareholder Activism (which I had to leave early). 

Ken gave a keynote speech to the meeting after lunch and was on form.   He compared the 77% of funding that Boris received during the last Mayor campaign from City Bankers and Hedge fund managers with the 80% he received from trade unions and trade union members. Unlike Boris he was proud of his funding.

Boris is planning to increase fares by 2% above inflation for the next 20 years. If he is elected Ken has pledged to cut tube fares by 7% and bus fares by 11%.

On Housing issues Ken spoke passionately about a London Living rent and a GLA rental agency. He also reaffirmed his commitment to work with London Council (and the LPFA which the Mayor runs) pension funds  to get them to fund investment in Housing. I will of course declare an interest in this subject. I also have never understood why British pension funds do not invest in residential rental properties?

Ken being Ken had to say something to bring a smile to our faces. His despair at this present Coalition government and his wish for it to fall led to him making a typically "Ken" offer to even sleep with Vince Cable if this meant the government would "fold".  An offer that Vince will no doubt....

Nationalise Southern Cross?

"We cannot just sit back and allow frail, vulnerable people to suffer, we want to see the Government taking emergency action to safeguard these residents who are all at risk - even if that means taking over the assets of these homes and running them as a going concern".  This statement is by Judy Downey, chair of the Relatives & Residents Association (R&RA)  on the BBC website here.

This is in the wake of today's 3000 job losses of staff employed by care home provider Southern Cross and the continued threat to its 31,000 elderly and vulnerable residents.

The care of the old and the infirm in our society should not be motivated by profit. British people (obviously not this current Tory led government) fully accepts this principle when it comes to the NHS but most don't "get it" with regard to other forms of caring for the elderly, the sick, the infirm and the disabled.

We forget or ignore that private sector companies only owe a duty of care to their shareholders. This duty is to maximise returns for them. So on the one hand, if you allow a massive social care organisation to be run by hedge funds and speculators ( or spivs and gamblers according to St Vince) then it is in the nature of the beast, that these companies will go bust from time to time. Regardless of the stress and trauma suffered by residents and staff from the threats of evictions and redundancy.  

Still, the government probably thinks that if Blue Cross folds due to financial mismanagement then there are still plenty of other privately run for profit schemes that residents can move into (e.g. see picture caption of home above NOT run by Southern Cross).

Orange Clegg and Saint Vince are Janus

"FURTHER UPDATE: Labour's Kevin Brennan, as mischievous as ever, asked if Speaker Bercow could confirm that it would be in order for MPs to walk through both the Aye and the Noe lobby if they want to register an abstention.

He said that Lib Dems who wanted to claim they had voted both for and against tuition fees could therefore satisfy different audiences".

Hat tip Col. Roi.