Local Government Pension Scheme: Don't Opt Out!

A campaign is being relaunched by Local Government employers. "Don't opt out of the Local Government
Pension Scheme".

Employers are as concerned as the unions that if the Government gets away with massive rises in pension
contributions then staff will just leave their schemes.

Who can afford to pay a 50% plus increase at a time of rising inflation, VAT increases and years of no pay rises? So many people could leave that this will just mean that the schemes do become unsustainable and will eventually collapse.

The full cost of looking after these pensioners will then fall on the taxpayer. This is just crazy economics.

Well done to the West Midlands Pension fund for producing these posters. I believe they have been running this campaign for a while, since already some staff "op out" since they think that they cannot afford to join - even at current contribution levels. 

If these new proposed increases go ahead then staff will just leave in droves. 

"Housing Voice" - for Affordable Housing in Britain

On Thursday I went to the Parliamentary launch of Housing Voice the Affordable Homes Alliance
in the Jubilee Room of the House of Commons.

The meeting was hosted by it's Chair - Lord Whitty (2nd right). This cross Party campaign has been formed to raise awareness of the lack of affordable homes across the UK and the need for
urgent government action. Lord Whitty also spoke at last week's UNISON housing fringe.

David Orr, the Chief Executive of the National Housing Federation, Shadow Housing Minister Alison Seabeck MP (speaking) , Alison Graham of Child Poverty Action Group, Roger McKenzie, Assistant General Secretary, UNISON and Stephen Gilbert, the Liberal Democrat Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Housing spoke at the launch.

UNISON sponsored the launch and YouGov research which has showed that:-

• 71% of the public do not think the Coalition Government is giving much attention to affordable housing
• For those in private rented accommodation affordable housing is their biggest concern after the economy – 40% compared to 28% for health and 18% for education
• Building more homes for rent would be a very popular policy with 70% support - including a majority of supporters of the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats or Labour
• Given a list of possible policies, less than half (40%) supported the idea of increasing supply by moving people from their council or housing association homes once their incomes rise above a certain limit
• A massive 18% - almost 1 in 5 – always or often struggle to pay their rent or mortgage

"The Housing Voice campaign aims to become a forum for ideas and a vehicle for action in order to build public awareness and push for urgent Government action to deliver more affordable housing"

So all good stuff. What I found interesting was:- Lib Dem Stephen Gilbert MP recognising that we have 250k new households per year but we are only building 125k new homes per year; Alison Seabeck MP thinks that there are votes to be won in planning but too many MPs think it will lose them votes.

David Orr pointed out that countries such as Finland and Norway plan to build 7 homes per 1,000 population to adequately house their people. This would have meant the equivalent of 420k new homes in the UK. We only built 100k last year - the smallest number since 1923 - when our population was half it is now.

Former Housing officer, now an Assistant General Sectary of UNISON, Roger McKenzie, reminded everyone that we we do live in one of the richest countries on the planet but if people do not have dignity, jobs and homes then life becomes intolerable.

Alison Graham of CPAG pointed out how can children who live in awful housing succeed in education if they smell of damp. (Which as a housing officer I know what she means) Toby Lloyd of Shelter was really pleased that at this launch that there was a wide spread of players and not the usual "housing suspects".

  

Finally, in the Q&A I mentioned that there seems to be a clear connection between countries cited in the debate who have good housing policies for all and are also those countries who are more successful because they are more equal. This would seem to support the arguments put forward in "The Spirit Level" book that societies that are more equal are simply better for everyone - rich and poor.

Update: forgot to add that Alison Seabeck MP had previously agreed to be a guest speaker at a UNISON Housing Association Branch Labour Link meeting, which we now hope will take place early September.

Pension Strike and Rally: London 30 June

This lunchtime I met up with branch officer Joel Bodmer (picture bottom left) to go and support the Pension rally for striking London teachers and civil servants.

The rally took place at Westminster Central Hall. Unfortunately we were turned away since it was full. So we went to a overflow rally around the corner. The march was still ongoing
all the time we were there. This was a magnificent and well organised event.

At the rally I did note that one speaker mentioned that in the teachers pension fund there was already an agreement to cap employer contributions.  If teacher pension costs do go up then the state will not pay anymore.  So there is no need at all for this theft of pension contributions.  This is purely about those who work with the public being made to pay for the Bankers crisis rather than the financiers who caused it in the first place. 

UNISON NDC 2011: Rule Change Schedule F Branch Finance

On Thursday afternoon at NDC it is rule change time.  This is my speech on supporting Schedule F.  I went to a Finance fringe the previous evening and quickly gathered that this proposed rule change was in trouble.  There were genuine concerns by delegates but also the usual suspects were just out to cause trouble. The rule change was lost. This is a shame, but there you go.  Here is my speech:

President, Conference, John Gray, Housing Association Branch, Greater London Region speaking in favour of this Rule Change.

Conference, I am speaking as a former treasurer of a large branch which employed staff and had hundreds of thousand pounds in various saving accounts and industrial action funds. We even had in our accounts, strangely enough for a trade union, two hundred pounds of British government War bonds from Second World War, which I tried to redeem, but couldn't since we had lost the actual certificates sometime in the dim and distance past. I have also been a regional finance convenor for the past 5 years. I am now a branch secretary with practically no reserves yet we employ four staff - so money and good financial governance is vital.  We have 4 workers saleries to pay each month.

Conference, I have done a number of different jobs for the union. But to be honest the job of branch treasurer was one of the most difficult and most worrying. Not being that good at maths probably didn’t help. But making sure that this huge amount of money, more money that I had ever come across before in my life, was safe and secure and any use was properly accounted for was a worry. I also felt that the interest we received was grossly inadequate and did not protect the union’s money against inflation.

I appreciate that the great majority of branches are already well run and have sound financial procedures. But we must face the facts that some are not. NDC all of us must take responsibility for enabling the union to safe guard all our monies not just NEC. 

Conference I think that this proposal is complex as all financial matters are but potentially a good move for branches and for the union. We can satisfy our external auditors and the inland revenue that our money is being looked after properly, legally and it is safe.  

It will remove some, not all, of the everyday headaches, that treasurers and branch secretaries face. It will also increase income to branches at a time when you will need every penny you can get to defend your members.

Finally conference, I understand people have concerns but we are in a union. By definition a union is a collective organisation. We have spent a great deal of time this week defending collective investments such as our pensions, collective rights and agreements over pay and conditions and taking collective industrial action to achieve our aims. 

A collective financial policy is better than a series of individual ones. Collective investments are going to be better than individual investments. Conference, Please support this rule change.

UNISON NDC 2011: The Spirit Level Fringe

On Wednesday lunchtime there was a fringe sponsored by the UNISON "hidden workforce" project.  I have posted about "The Spirit Level: Why Equality is better for Everyone" here and here.  What was different about this meeting was that the first speaker was someone who had suffered first hand from income inequality.  Then we heard about the research from Professor Richard Wilkinson.

The meeting was chaired by UNISON AGS Roger McKenzie. Luis Ojeda spoke first, he is from Ecuador who has lived in the UK for 14 years and is employed as a cleaner at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). He described how dreadful it was for him and his work colleagues surviving on minimum wages as contract cleaners with a exploitative employer.  UNISON, the other campus unions and SOAS students campaigned together and the School eventually introduced a Living wage policy for all.

Richard spoke as eloquently and persuasively as ever about how hard research showed that income inequality is simply bad for everyone.  Rich and poor. Even if the biggest cheer he got was when he said that having no friends in society is worse for your health than if you smoked (from smokers)!

He also thought that it was no co-incidence that countries such as Norway and Sweden do better in almost all national well being statistical outcomes, have high levels of trade union density and influence.

So join UNISON and live longer and better!

Ardeley, Benington and Walkern Walk

Off message but on Sunday, as part of my post Conference recovery plan. I went for a countryside walk in deepest Hertfordshire. The walk was glorious as was the weather. Double click picture.

48 hours previously I was sitting with my delegation in a converted Mancunian Railway station, plotting and planning, listening to speeches, while struck down with the recognised UNISON medical condition - “Conference lergie”. 

But now I was walking along lovely peaceful ancient paths and byways. Enjoying the blue skies and the sunshine. Spotting wild deer, being blockaded in by greedy spoilt ponies, having a lunch in the 15th Century pub The Bell and investigating a Flower Festival in a medieval Church. For some inexplicable reason I wondered off route and this Pathfinder 7 mile walk actually turned into 10 miles. Obviously, I suspect UUL sabotage.

It is amazing how few other walkers you see. Every weekend Londoners in particular will travel enormous distances up and down the Country to go walking in the traditional often crowded National Park beauty spots. Yet practically on their doorstep there is fantastic countryside to explore with usually hardly a soul to bother you.

I’ll post other pictures of this wonderful walk on Facebook.

UNISON NDC 2011: Motion 89 Palestine

On Wednesday afternoon I spoke in favour of this important and controversial motion. In the past UNISON conference had voted to break links with Histadrut, the Israeli trade union organisation over its support of Israeli state policy towards Palestine.

Last year Conference voted for its NEC to review this policy. The NEC did so and carried out a fact finding mission to Palestine, including meeting up with representatives of its major union, the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU).

During this visit UNISON representatives believe that they were clearly told that the PGFTU wanted them to not break off all links with Histadrut since there were advantages to the Palestine cause  from us having a "critical engagement" policy. 

However, the motion was defeated when a number of speakers claimed that the PGFTU wanted us to continue to boycott and made reference to statements made by its leadership which appeared to clearly support that view.  This I think caused widespread confusion amongst delegates and led to the motion being lost. 

I have never been to Palestine (or Israel for that matter) and I am not in anyway an "expert" in these things but I suspect that the PGFTU do see tactical advantages for them if UNISON had links with Histadrut but they do not wish to do so publicly.

See what happens next year.

UNISON NDC 2011: Protect our Pensions Fringe

On Tuesday lunch time there was a very well attended fringe on "Protecting our Pensions".  It was chaired by NEC member Steve Warwick, Roz Norman (Health service Group), Glyn Jenkins (UNISON Head of pensions)and Mo Baines (LGPS Pension rep). 
I missed the beginning.

In the Q&A I asked whether or not the true cost of past employer contribution holidays and lower than needed contributions had ever been calculated by the unions? If employers had always paid what they should have paid, what would our schemes look like now? 

I had been to a conference recently were it was asserted by a well known financial figure that £50 billion pounds had been taken (stolen says I ?) from final salary schemes due to past contribution holidays and reductions. Glyn responded by say thing he thought such a figure seemed plausible but he knows that for many years - employers paid far, fair less into schemes than employees.

My argument is of course that if the employers had paid in the traditional 10-12% of earnings into occupational pensions schemes every year for the past 30 years then things would look very different in the pension world than they do now. 

In other words many pension scheme members face now being Robert Maxwelled (aka robbed) due to the past misappropriation (theft?) of contributions?

SERTUC Theatre Club: The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists

UNISON NDC 2011: Composite Motion E – Cuts are not the Cure

This is a picture of Joel Bodmer, who was also a delegate from Housing Association Branch.  Joel is the Branch Young member and Media officer.  He spoke in favour of Composite E and used his own experience as a mental health support worker to describe the impact of the cuts.  Not only on staff but also on clients and services.

Stephen Brown, the Chair of the Community Service Group Executive also spoke about the £5 billion in cuts that the voluntary and community sector will face.

In our sector there are rogue employers who are deliberately undercutting the good ones in Supporting People bids. Once they win the bids they then slash the pay and conditions to TUPE staff and reduce care to vulnerable clients. A real race to the gutter by employers who claim to be socially responsible organisations. What rubbish! The branch is putting together a plan to tackle such abuses in our region. 

Joel is a UNISON Labour Link levy payer and a Labour Party activist in Brixton. He was recently elected as a Greater London representative to the UNISON Labour Link national forum which takes place next month in Liverpool.