Are Council pension funds being ripped off? File on 4

On Tuesday evening (and repeated 5pm today) the excellent investigative Radio 4 programme "File on 4" examined whether at the same time that Councils are suffering from massive Government cuts - their pension funds are also being ripped off by fund managers in excessive fees and charges.

There was an interesting consensus of views that they are indeed being ripped off. On the one hand former policy adviser to David Cameron, Michael Johnson, argued that 101 fragmented and inefficient Council funds running the same pension scheme was a "national embarrassment". While from the opposite political corner, UNISON national Officer, Colin Meech, compared the scheme to a bucket full of leaks and holes which constantly needs topping up.

The programme needs to be congratulated for pointing out that contrary to the tabloid stereotype the majority of people in the Council pension scheme, are not the so-called "Town Hall fat cats", but low paid, part-time women. Also unless the scheme becomes more efficient in the future then these low paid workers will pay the price with reduced pension benefits or higher contributions.

My fellow UNISON pension representative, Malcolm Cantello, described how the charging structure is so complex that no-one seems to know how much his pension fund actually pays out. Birmingham Councillor, John Clancy, believes that merged regional "super funds" would not only cut costs but enable them to have the scale to invest in much needed infrastructure projects.

The researcher, Dr Chris Seir, thinks that the actual cost of the Council pension scheme could be more than double, as previously thought, at around £1 billion per year.  Imagine what better use hard pressed Councils could do with that sort of money?

Probably the most controversial statement made (out of many) was a remark by Michael Johnson that suggested the reason why the current government had kicked the question of cutting costs and merging Council pension funds into the long grass was because the fund management industry funds the Conservative Party. I suspect that Michael is now completely off his former boss' Christmas card list.

(picture of annual Gala dinner of National Association Pension Funds inside Liverpool Cathedral paid for by City sponsors. You can download the File on 4 programme here and check out this post from last year on "how we pay for the City")

Last Day of UNISON Conference 2007 – Wreckers seen off.

Sorry this is a bit late. The last day of conference is always a little fraught. Your morning "routine” has to cope with the additional tasks of checking out of your hotel and finding somewhere to put your luggage for the day. Cumulative late nights (and hangovers) don’t help either.

Thanks to excellent trade union history blog Timemachine for NALGO (UNISON founder union) annual for 1939 (yes, it was called the "Beano"). I missed the traditional Friday “tongue in cheek” Standing order committee report. I hear that its chair, Clytus Williams, was on form and very funny.

There then was a good emergency debate on pay campaigns. Looks like it will be our first row with Gordon as Prime Minister (...and not our last). The scheduled order of business was finished off, then after lunch we had the start of the remaining order of business (the “snake”).

In 1 hour 45 minutes there was an attempt to debate 30 odd outstanding motions and amendments. First two motions which had been prioritised were health and safety motions. Sickness Absence Procedures and Attacks on Public sector workers: Violence against staff. Excellent news, real core trade union issues being prioritised and discussed. It was a pity that certain delegates prevented proper debate on such issues by raising a point of order and calling for a vote when only a couple of speakers had said anything. But no real surprise there.

Very pleased that Motion 101 “Pension Funds and Capital Stewardship – Toward the Citizen Economy” was the third prioritised motion (see Peter Gaskins, Cambridge UNISON pension rep

and new NEC member speaking in favour) and it was overwhelmingly passed. In fact I only saw one delegate vote against (by raising his yellow A4 voting card) and he was promptly hit on the head by a female colleague with her voting card for doing so. Quite right too. I’ll post something on 101 with a full account of the “Are we the New Capitalists” fringe. However, at the risk of sounding over enthusiastic, it appears that Capital Stewardship is coming of age in UNISON at last. Related issues came up time and time again during conference such as over the arms trade, Israeli, international solidarity, health & safety issues and the danger of “Private Equity”.

In the closing session the UNISON President for the year (Malcolm Cantello – elected by the NEC it is the most senior lay trade union post in UNISON) was thanked for his work not only in the past year but also for his entire trade union service. I always find this quite emotional and nostalgic. It is a shame that some delegates immediately leave as soon as formal business is finished and do not wait to listen.

Overall, a very good week. Real trade union business debated and moved forward. Pity that some nonsense crept through every now and then, but there you go.

Next year in Bournemouth….