Protest against #RaceHate outside Forest Gate station E7 at 8.30pm tonight after the GBH attack on a local Black Labour Party canvasser yesterday. Organised by Forest Gate North Labour Party and local Councillors. All welcome.
Monday, July 11, 2016
Forest Gate North By Election - this Thursday 14 July
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Wednesday, July 06, 2016
Blame the victims
"Too many housing associations do not support the victims
of workplace violence, says John Gray"
Below is an opinion piece I wrote for Inside Housing last week (it is behind a paywall). I think you will find the same thing in many other sectors.
"Blame the victims
As the secretary of a large Unison housing branch which
represents members in over 140 different employers, why is it that some
organisations report relatively high assaults and other incidents of violence
at work, while similar ones report little or none?
"With the tragic murder of Jo Cox MP there can be no
one who is not aware of the consequences of violence at work."
Is it really because the employers who don't report
assaults are so well run that their staff are never threatened or attacked? Or
perhaps the truth is that too many employers don't support staff that are
assaulted, discourage reporting and don't bother investigating attacks and
near-misses.
To be clear, only a tiny minority of our residents are in
any way a threat to staff, but we do have to deal with drug and alcohol
problems, anti-social behaviour, evictions, gangs, domestic violence and other
potential hazards.
Some managers will even blame staff who report assaults
for "lack of professionalism" and in some way "allowing"
themselves to be hurt. Sometimes staff have so little confidence in management
to actually do anything about assaults that they say "why
bother?". The demonisation by the
media of "elf 'n safety" as being in some way unnecessary and
bureaucratic.
Since it is clear that there is, at best, massive
under-reporting of assaults, what can be done about it? Here are five key
points for a start:
1. Chief executives and senior management teams ought to
realise that they have a clear duty to make sure that they have an effective
health and safety system in place, and that if they don't have a real
reporting, monitoring and investigating process in place then they are clearly
failing in that duty.
2. If something does "go wrong" then they may
face imprisonment and unlimited personal fines for breaching health and safety
regulations.
3. They should make sure that they employ sufficient
safety advisers and make sure that joint union and management safety committees
happen, and encourage union safety reps to check risk assessments and
investigate incidents.
4. The regulator should be stepping in. If an
organisation is not reporting assaults and complying with the law, then what
other things are they not reporting or not complying with?
5. The Chartered Institute of Housing, the National
Housing Federation, the Local Government Association and the unions should be
working together in partnership to educate, train, monitor and encourage
compliance by all employers, managers and staff.
None of the above is rocket science. None of the above is
impossible to achieve. This is just having sensible policies and making sure
they are actually working and in place. Last week with the tragic murder of Jo
Cox MP there can be no one who is now not aware of the potential risks and
consequences of violence at work.
John Gray, housing association branch secretary, Unison
Sunday, July 03, 2016
Tiger, Tiger burning bright in West Ham
I am not sure if there is a William Blake connection but it does remind me of his famous poem (see below - one of my favourties). I understand that further paintings are planned. I hope the ward Councillors wards will be told!
"Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies.
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp,
Dare its deadly terrors clasp!
When the stars threw down their spears
And water’d heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Tyger Tyger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?"
(Hat tip Julianne M)
Labour leadership woes are 'midsummer madness'
He says he doesn't agree with the MPs trying to oust Mr Corbyn, but concedes: "They are the parliamentary candidates", who are answerable to their constituencies "at the end of the day".
Stressing that he doesn't have a vote, Lord Prescott says: "At the end of the day I believe in democracy and he is the leader on a democratic mandate and if you want to change it use our rules and put up somebody and fight.
"At the moment,do we know if there’s somebody from Labour at the moment? It just seems a lot of huffing and puffing and I’m going to put it down to the midsummer madness..".
John Prescott has also written a very sensible column on this in today's Sunday Mirror.
Friday, July 01, 2016
We need transparency on charges
This is my latest opinion article for Professional Pensions magazine. "John Gray asks why UK pension schemes do not have access to important information on charges.
Earlier this month I went to the CWC annual conference in Amsterdam. This was for trade union pension officers and trustees. It was hosted by the equivalent of the British TUC and naturally there was a strong presence at the conference of Dutch trustees who help manage €1.2trn (£0.97trn) in pension funds.
While I am sure the Dutch model is not perfect, there seemed to be far more trust and confidence in their pensions system than I have ever found in the UK.
It also reminded me of a presentation by David Pitt-Watson in 2010 called "How do you double the size of your pension? Go Dutch!" Even back then David argued that due to low charges and scale, the average Dutch pension was twice the size of the average UK pension for the same level of contributions.
In the UK we are finally beginning to address excessive (and largely hidden) charges and costs in our pension funds. The Bank of England chief economist and even the prime minster have recently attacked the financial services industry for a lack of transparency. Four years ago the Dutch government forced all pension funds to publish its real costs on administration, fund management and transactions. This has allowed funds to benchmark and has driven their costs even lower.
It is argued that in the UK costs are hidden in a complex and secret investment chain and are far higher than presented. Arguably, cost has a bigger impact on long-term performance than picking good active managers.
But when one of the pension funds I sit on in the UK as a trustee (Not LBTH) asked all of our fund managers for the same information on costs that are disclosed in the Netherlands, two of them said they were unable to provide this information.
Why not have this information?
Why is this information freely available to pension fund members in the Netherlands but not in the UK? Why do I not know the true costs of running my scheme? How do I judge if we are getting value for money? How do I know if we are being ripped off or not?
Would you as an individual buy any other product if you did not know what its cost is? Even worse, what would you think of any company if you find out it had 'misled' you on the cost of its product. Remember how angry people were and the financial impact on Volkswagen when it finally admitted it had fiddled its emissions levels.
How can I comply with my fiduciary duty as a trustee if I don't even know such basic bread and butter information? In the United States pension trustees have been sued for such failure.
There now seems to be some momentum. The £27bn Railways pension fund Railpen recently audited its true costs and now believes that it can save the fund a staggering £100m per year.
The Local Government Pension Scheme appears to be adopting the Dutch system. The Association of Member Nominated Trustees voted at their summer conference to work together with the Transparency Task Force to campaign on costs and charges.
This is not about bashing the financial services industry. I don't have a problem as a trustee with paying for good performance. But I do have a problem with not knowing what that performance costs. This lack of transparency must stop. We cannot allow things to continue. We must establish trust and confidence in our pensions. UK Pensions - tell us how much you cost.
(John Gray is a pension board member of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets though he writes here in a personal capacity)
Thursday, June 30, 2016
Joint trade union statement on the Labour Party
Above all, we need to be fighting to preserve our members’ jobs, already under threat in several industries and across the public sector as a consequence. The government is in crisis, but already serious debates are taking place and decisions being made which profoundly affect the interests of working people.
Under these circumstances, our members and millions of others will be looking with dismay at the events in parliament. It cannot be right to seek to denude the Labour front bench at this time, when the government more than ever needs to be scrutinised and held to account by an effective and united opposition that does the job it is paid to do
Jeremy Corbyn is the democratically-elected Leader of our Party who secured such a resounding mandate less than ten months ago under an electoral procedure fully supported by Labour MPs. His position cannot and should not be challenged except through the proper democratic procedures provided for in the Party’s constitution. We urge all Labour MPs to abide by those procedures, and to respect the authority of the Party’s Leader.
While we have stated that we believe a Leadership election would be an unwelcome distraction at this time of crisis, if one nevertheless occurs through the proper procedures we would expect all parts of the Party to honour the result and pull together in the interests of the country, and working people in particular. The only party that can win for working people is a strong and united Labour Party".
Len McCluskey, General Secretary, Unite the Union
Dave Prentis, General Secretary, UNISON
Tim Roache, General Secretary, GMB
Dave Ward, General Secretary, CWU
Brian Rye, Acting General Secretary, UCATT
Manuel Cortes, General Secretary, TSSA
Mick Whelan, General Secretary, ASLEF
Matt Wrack, General Secretary, FBU
Ronnie Draper, General Secretary, BFAWU
Chris Kitchen, General Secretary, NUM
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Forest Gate By Election 2016: 15 days to go
The campaign started last week but I was away at Unison National delegate conference. Following the disastrous referendum result and self destructive infighting amongst the Parliamentary Labour Party, let us be honest, that this is not the best time to be holding a by election.
However, the Labour vote seems as solid as ever and Forest Gate residents want a Labour councillor to be returned in the ward. This is not to say I have not had some serious conversations with residents about national politics but only 1 person in the past 3 nights has raised the leadership issue with me.
The referendum result has stunned people and the majority of people I have spoken to about it are ashamed of the result. We came across 2 residents who said they were normally Tories but they would not be voting for them in this election because of what has happened.
I spoke to one man on Monday who claimed that he did not know the result since he had ignored all the media since the previous Thursday evening and asked what had happened. I replied that I hope I am in the middle of a horrible dream and will wake up tomorrow and find out it was the Friday morning again, and we had actually voted to remain
East European residents I have spoken to have been quite understanding and pragmatic. They accept the result and while some are fearful about what will happen to them, most said they had been working in the UK for more than 5 years, paying UK taxes, so they thought they will be ok. They were of course as interested in local bread and butter council issues such as anti-social behaviour and parking control as anyone else.
I will post further on the EU referendum result (and why Newham had such an awful low "remain" vote). In the meanwhile can supporters please come out and canvass for Anam.
Thursday 30th June 11:00 at Dean Street E7 9BJ (Odessa Road Open Space)
Thursday 30th June 18:00 at Dean Street E7 9BJ (Odessa Road Open Space)
Friday 1 July 11:00 at Wanstead Park station E7 0HX
Saturday 2nd July 11:00 at Wanstead Park station E7 0HX
Saturday 2nd July 14:00 at Wanstead Park station E7 0HX
Sunday 3rd July 11:00 at Hatfield Road E15 1QY
Sunday 3rd July 14:00 at Hatfield Road E15 1QY
Monday 4th July 11:00 at Wanstead Park station E7 0HX
Monday 4th July 14:00 at Wanstead Park station E7 0HX
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
The Tories are divided, but at this crucial time, Labour should not be
leader, and a great number of our members voted for him in the Labour leadership contest.
Support for Jeremy remains the position of this union, as determined by our members through our democratic structures.
At our Labour party members’ conference next week we will have an open and honest debate about the future of the party, and how Labour wins the coming election.
It is not the PLP or trade unions who now elect the leader of the Labour Party – it is party members and affiliate supporters, and that mandate should be respected.
It is essential that the Labour Party is united in dealing with the huge threats to our economy, society, the disturbing rise of racism in our communities and attacks on public services as our country faces a period of huge uncertainty.
The Tories are divided, but at this crucial time, Labour should not be.
As we appear to be moving towards an early general election, our members need strong and united leadership from the Labour Party.
If MPs choose not to serve in the shadow cabinet, the Labour leader has a right to seek to form a shadow cabinet and lead our party as long as he has the support of party members".
Friday, June 24, 2016
Unison NDC 16 - On the Vote to Leave
UNISON Press release "Commenting
on the news that the UK has voted to leave the EU, UNISON general secretary
Dave Prentis said:
“The
people have spoken, and they have made a clear call for change – and a
different relationship with Europe.
“We
will be working in the coming weeks and months to hold the leave campaigners to
the promises they’ve made – that there will be more money for the NHS, and that
our rights at work will remain intact.
“But
this also has to be a time for our country to heal. At its best the campaign
has enabled genuine debate and discussion in our homes, workplaces and
communities about the future of the economy and the kind of country we want to
live in.
“At
its worst, the campaign has been typified by hatred, vitriol and misinformation
that have done a huge disservice to our democracy and
values.
“Over
the coming weeks and months, all political leaders must think about how to
address the issues that people in our communities care most about – falling
incomes, insecure jobs, unaffordable housing and the huge challenges facing our
public services after more than half a decade of cuts. “
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