Fidelity: “links” to Darfur and “disgusted, Tonbridge Wells”

Quick update on the work of super investment sleuth, Tom P and his continuing investigation into investment Fund manager, Fidelity, who are exposed as major financial contributors to the Conservative Party. In recent years they have donated £415, 500 to the Tories despite not declaring this to potential customers such as Council pension funds.

Tom has also pointed out that during the recent Parliamentary debate on political party funding, Fidelity’s sponsorship of the Tories was mentioned and it was pointed out by Lib Dem MP David Heath, that Fidelity “deals with those who are creating the circumstances of genocide in Darfur” (Hansard). Check out “Fidelity out of Sudan”

Not only this, Tom finds out that Fidelity directly employs former minister, Tory MP for Tunbridge and Malling, (and former PPS to Margaret Thatcher) Sir John Stanley as a “consultant”. He also appears to be paid as a director of a Fidelity investment trust. Jobs for the boys? It is a little unclear what he advises Fidelity upon. Is it on political donations?

Finally, Tom has also ferreted out Fidelity support of Pro-Tory business pressure group called The Enterprise Forum . They sponsored last year a breakfast meeting addressed by Philip Hammond MP - Shadow Secretary of State for Work & Pensions.

Curse of Labourhome – Why Barack Obama lost in New Hampshire

Now the dust has settled, it is time to explain what happened. Last week I posted about Money Shop and Payday UK who have high street stores which target vulnerable “customers” with unsecured short term loans and charging up to 1330% APR.

I also posted these items on Labourhome and got some useful information. Labourhome commentator “Rwendland” pointed out that even in the land of the free; many US states limit the amount of interest that can be charged on loans. They are even called usury laws. Other countries also have such laws. In Canada they have a legal limit of 60%.

So there are precedences to ban this vile practice.

“Redrooster” pointed out that there is a UK website called “debt-on-our-doorstep”, this is a bit out of date but it provides a lot of useful information about how excessive interest rates can be restricted by the state.

Finally, Rwendland also posted on Saturday a comment that pointed out that the Democratic front runner at the time, Barack Obama, had actually voted against a poplar congress resolution to “To limit the amount of interest that can be charged on any extension of credit to 30 percent” while his rival Hilary Clinton had voted in favour of it.

Of course, once this disclosure had filtered through across the pond – Obama was history. Such is the power of “Labourhome”.

Election Time

It’s that time of year again in the trade union and Labour movement. Never mind the GLA, London Mayor and local Council elections in May. We now have the season of AGM’s and internal Elections upon us.

Below is my request for nominations sent to UNISON Local Government (LG) branches in Greater London region for the LG Service Group Executive.

Time for a Change?

I want to be a London representative on the SGE because I think that it’s time for a change. I would be someone who has ordinary members’ interests at heart and puts their concerns first.

A National Union that listens to London?

While I want the SGE to be part of a campaigning, progressive union that fights injustice, privatisation and inequality, I also want the union to be one that speaks out for ordinary members and a region that is listened to throughout the union. As a member of the SGE I would support measures to promote a democratic union that not only pays attention to its branches and SOGs but is able to take their views forward.

Skills and Knowledge Necessary?

I believe that I have these skills and knowledge to represent London. I am currently the London Regional Finance Convenor and Regional Council officer. In this role I also attend Regional Finance meetings, Regional Committee and other meetings and functions on behalf of the region. I have attended national UNISON lay committees, working groups and forums. I have also been a branch and Regional delegate to Local Government conferences and National Delegate Conferences.

Real Practical Experience

I have practical day-to-day experience of the problems facing our members in London. Both in local government and the voluntary/private sector. I work in a front line post as an estate management housing officer. For many years I was an active Branch officer in Tower Hamlets LG branch. Last year I was TUPE transferred and I am now a member of the Housing Association branch and the acting UNISON convenor of Circle Anglia Group HA. Obviously I have first hand experiences of negotiating over outsourcing and protecting member’s terms and conditions! I have represented and supported members at all levels including employment tribunals. I have also participated in and organised effective industrial action to defend members.

Protect our Pensions

We want to ensure that we now continue to keep a firm eye on the Local Government Pension scheme and make sure that we head off any problems in the future. Also we need to campaign for decent pensions for the voluntary sector, housing associations and privatised services. For the last 12 years I have been a pension activist in London. I have also been the convenor of UNISON London and National Capital Stewardship forum.

Core Trade Union Issues

Finally, I believe that nationally and locally, UNISON has a responsibility to push what I believe to be real key trade union issues such as: Pay, health and safety, pensions, equality, anti-privatisation and employment rights further up the trade union agenda.

I want to be a modern, progressive representative for London who wants to work with other regions and to get things done and make sure that we truly reflect what members actually want and need. Please consider nominating me.

John Gray

P.S If anyone wants to discuss any issues with me or would like me to come if possible and visit your branch then please contact me.

Boris says Ken to blame for knife crime

Yesterday received a news release from Labour London Assembly Leader, Len Duvall about Boris's attack on Ken for his supposed lack of leadership on gun and knife crime. This attack was a feature, in the ever so neutral and objective, London Evening Standard on Monday evening.

This is a ridiculous argument. Ken has always been consistently strong on law and order. His arguments that it is was the poor and vulnerable that suffered the most from crime and they needed protection by the Police, use to infuriate the left. Now the right are making fools of themselves (and worse) over what should be a serious issue, by claiming he is soft on crime. Len’s comment on Boris was: -

BORIS MADE MORE SENSE WHEN HE KEPT QUIET

Londoners will see through Boris Johnson’s hollow words on knife crime according to Labour’s leader on the London Assembly.

Assembly Member Len Duvall today told a meeting at City Hall that Johnson’s lack of understanding was down to his self-imposed six-month exile from London politics.

Len said, “To suggest that the Mayor is to blame for the recent spate of appalling teenage violence just goes to show how much Boris Johnson has got to learn.

“We have a Mayor who has invested heavily in the police after years of Tory cuts when crime went through roof. We now have dedicated neighbourhood and transport policing teams and more police on the beat. And the number of murders has actually fallen since 2000.

“The Mayor has also just committed nearly £80 million to youth provision in the capital. Maybe Boris was still in hiding when this was announced? I can think of no other reason why he would be completely ignorant of the investment in policing and youth services we have seen under this Mayor.”

HousingStories

My “grown up” job is an estate managment officer for a housing association. I have just been sent a link to an entertaining new site (still under construction) called “HousingStories”. Some of these stories don’t exactly show the Social Housing “profession” at its best. I can well believe the GLC mouse story. Not sure what housing management pioneer Octavia Hill would have made of it?

As a young Housing Officer, I received a complaint from a tenant that she kept hearing loud animal noises coming from the council house next door. When I visited the property I was amazed to find a fully grown bull in the back garden. What made it even more puzzling was that there was no rear access to the back garden. The tenant explained to me that he had got the bull when it was just a calf and brought it through the house into the back garden. The idea was that it would be a pet for the kids until it was ready to go to market. When I asked how he intended to get it out of the back garden, he suddenly went quiet! We ended up having to have the animal sedated and hoisted over the house with a crane.

The housing chair had a habit of always falling asleep during council meetings. His political colleagues decided that at the next council meeting they would take a vote to exclude any member committing this sin. As the meeting began our housing chair dosed off. The mayor immediately called for a special vote to evict from the chamber any councillor who fell asleep during the proceedings. As the vote was being taken by a show of hands our councillor awoke, noticed the hands of his colleagues in the air and joined in the vote!

Row over corporate killing fines

This months SHP magazine reports on a row about how to fine offenders under the new “Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act”. The Sentencing Advisory panel have suggested that the fine should be 2.5-10% of an offending company’s annual turnover.

The IOSH think this is fair since it is in line with the fines that can be levied on companies for infringing European competition law. Surprise, surprise the CBI (the “Voice of Business”) think that fines running into “hundreds of millions of pounds...unfair”. While the CCA thinks even 10% is too low.

The CBI seems to forget that this is about companies being punished for killing people. While competition laws are important surely committing manslaughter should attract a higher penalty. Better still a custodial sentence?

“Why should my pension scheme fund the Tories?"

Good question. Ever since it came out in Labour & Capital” blog, that the fund managers Fidelity have recently given the Conservative Party £415,000; I have been contacted by furious UNISON members whose pension fund employ Fidelity.

Local Government Pension scheme members currently have little or no influence over who is employed to manage their pension contributions (their “deferred pay”). Now they find that their pension money is being used to enrich the Tories without them even being made aware.

Many UNISON members also work for Conservative controlled Councils and are obviously concerned that these Councils are paying huge amounts of money to a company which is a significant Conservative Party funder without any disclosure or consultation. LGPS Pension fund managers usually charge annual fees of hundred of thousands of pounds to manage Council funds.

I know that a number of Labour Party councillors are also livid that they have employed such a company without being aware of this potential conflict of interest.

The author of Labour & Capital, Tom P and his wife, has a ISA with Fidelity and has been trying for sometime to get proper response from Fidelity about why they pay the Tories, will they continue to do so and why don’t they disclose their political bias? He has been pretty much been fobbed off. See the latest rather pointless response.

Following the complaints I have received from UNISON members, I have (finally) drafted a letter to Fidelity which I will consult beforehand with the London and the National UNISON Capital Stewardship forums (I currently chair both).

I hope that the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) will also get their finger out and give some definitive advice on donations to political Parties. At the moment their advice is only that they would not normally support such donations. What on earth does that mean in practice? No doubt at this rate we will have to wait for some typically British financial scandal to occur before “the powers to be” get their act together and ban this frankly odious practice.

Backing Ken Livingstone for London Mayor 2008

The London Labour Party has launched a website for the re-election of London Mayor Ken Livingstone. So far the website.

KenLivingstone.com only has a request for donations and to "sign-on" box to enable activists to sign up for email alerts. More to follow.

“Ken Livingstone is committed to securing the long-term success of our capital, making sure that every Londoner is able participate in that success – and protecting our environment so that London's success is sustainable.

We'll be campaigning hard to ensure that London remains on the right course and that Londoners understand the choices they'll face in the election for Mayor on 1 May 2008”.

During the election campaign I will also be doing my best to encourage trade unionists to support Ken and the excellent existing Labour GLA member for City and East, John Biggs, as well as looking to increase the Labour vote and turnout, not least in order to prevent the BNP from getting a seat.

Interestingly Galloway has indicated that he will stand for the GLA as well this year! Should be fun. Email Hat tip to AG

1330% APR - Tackling the Loan Parasites (and Sharks)

I’ve been thinking of yesterday’s post and about what should be done about the likes of “Money Shop” and the rest (Payday UK “only” charge 1330% interest for a 30 day loan – please click on the link to check I am not making this figure up. It is unbelievable. Apparently they have 100,000 UK customers) who make such excessive interest charges.

Firstly, why not legislate against it. Usury use to be illegal for centuries. There also use to be numerous Bank of England regulated credit controls which were abolished by Thatcher?

This is not just “Old Labour” but actually surely it is the role of the state to legislate against such blatant exploitation of vulnerable people? These interest rates are just parasitical. We have after all made other justifiable interventions into the “market” such as the minimum wage and now personal pension accounts.

Of course there must be better education in schools about personal finance and what high interest rates really mean. Maybe also we should think whether the government could open an account for everyone in a community credit union as they did recently for kids?

There is an argument that if you restrict the “official” interest rate you may encourage people to use loan sharks. According to recent research 165,000 Brits already use loan sharks. So that argument is pretty poor. You are more likely to need a loan shark if you have to spend so much of a limited income on “over the counter” interest. Also these mind boggling rates almost make loan sharks respectable. It is interesting that the BBC link above mentions that Tower Hamlets loan sharks are being targeted by special trading standard teams. We have a bit of a history of this sort of thing.

If there is (rightly in my view) a fuss about the “unfair” charges paid to proper banks by (dare I say mostly “middle class”) bank customers and even a legal test case by the Office of Fair Trading, then why can’t the government take action to restrict the interests rate paid by the mostly very poor, “working class”?

Apart from being a point of principal and social justice - can you imagine the Tories supporting such a move? What would their paymasters, such as the pro-unfettered market "Fidelity Fund managers" say!

A decisive move in this direction would let in some clear red water... Gordon?

An offer the desperate cannot refuse.

Walking along the Roman Road, East London before Christmas I found the local “Money Shop” had a wonderful special offer for customers – “pay only £5 for a £95 loan” at only 86.7% typical APR. So that’s okay then. An absolute bargain then with inflation at 4.8%?

Today I walked past the “shop” and it had no bill boards out on the pavement but it was announcing its “half price sale” in the windows. “ Pay only £7 (usually £14) for a £93 loan with our Half Price Sale. 141.9% APR typical. The total amount payable of £100 is repaid in 30 days".

Hmmm? Even the ubiquitous Barclaycard has credit available at 14.9% APR. Admittedly many of the Money Shop customers would be refused a credit card.

The Money Shop” website states that they have 250 stores in the country. You can also click on their TV adverts! This usury is not paying their staff great wages. The same site advertises for customer service reps for £14,000 (and 5% bonus) while the shop managers can get up to £22, 000 with “unlimited bonuses”! Oh, they are also “investors in people”.

Only a couple of hundred yards down the road is a credit union office, where you can get loans at only 12.68%. If you repay it over 12 months it could only cost 6.6%.

The money shop is a bit coy about who owns it. Hopefully my pension fund has no investment in it (anyone know?).