Keir Hardie 120th Anniversary: Scottish Parliament & Newham Council

The motion below was tabled in the Scottish Parliament last week. Hat tip Dave Watson. Below that is the statement that Newham Mayor Robin Wales gave to the Full Council meeting on 2 July

"Keir Hardie Anniversary

Neil Findlay (Scottish Labour): That the Parliament notes that 4 July 2012 was the 120th anniversary of the election in which Keir Hardie became the Member of Parliament for West Ham South; remembers how Keir Hardie represented miners across Scotland as a trade union official and went on to represent constituents in West Ham South in England and Merthyr Tydfil in Wales as an MP; understands that Hardie used his time in Parliament to fight for a number of issues and greater rights for the working classes; notes that Hardie was a strong proponent for votes for women, which was achieved 13 years after his death; recognises his support for home rule for Scotland and considers that it was delivered by a Labour government, a government of the party that he founded; commends the Keir Hardie Society for its work in promoting the life and work of Keir Hardie, and looks forward to the 2020 celebrations marking the 120th anniversary of Keir Hardie’s election as MP for Merthyr Tydfil".

Newham Council (formerly East and West Ham Borough) - Keir Hardie

"The Mayor informed that 2012 marks 120 years since Keir Hardie was elected to Parliament in the (then) West Ham South seat. Born in 1856, Keir Hardie was the first Independent Labour Member of Parliament and a pioneer and founder for what would later become the Labour Party.

Keir Hardie was the first truly working class representative in Parliament. He drew on his own experiences and hardships that he faced growing up in Scotland, where he first started work at the age of 7 in Shipbuilding in Glasgow, before at the age of 10 becoming a miner. He went on to become a trade union activist and leader. As secretary of the Ayrshire Miners Union, he lead some of the first organised campaigns for decent wages and living standards. His contribution as one of the first leaders of the Labour Party cannot be underestimated, in particular in helping to establish it's founding principles and becoming the party which fought for the rights of the working class.

Hardie won the West Ham South seat in 1892, winning by over 5,000 votes. He stood for free schooling, pensions, women's rights and the abolition of the House of Lords… Proof that sometimes over a century isn’t a long time in politics!

The Mayor stated that Newham Council would honour this great man this year with an exhibition at the Old Town Hall, Stratford, and that more details would be publicised in due course".

Picture on right is of the bust of Keir Hardie inside Stratford Town Hall taken during the 4 July West Ham Labour Party and Newham TULO commemoration tour.

Goodbye and thanks Keith: Hello and welcome Frances

On Wednesday evening after the NEC meetings I went to a reception to mark the retirement of UNISON Deputy General Secretary Keith Sonnet. Keith has served the Labour Movement for 40 years and I think we all wish him well in the retirement. Even though I doubt very much we have seen the last of him.

I had a later meeting that I couldn't get out of, so I was only able to have a brief chat and handshake. I don't know Keith that well but it was really nice that he remembered that I had helped (in a very small way) during the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) negotiations in 2008. We also discussed the new LGPS 2014 scheme and the incredibily good deal that UNISON had negotiated for members.

Coincidentally this week Frances O'Grady was appointed as General Secretary of the British Trade Union Congress. She happens to be the first female GS of the TUC which is I think an important landmark occasion in trade union history. I have seen Frances speak and promote progressive labour politics and really welcome her election.

"Housing bodies fight to protect staff pension pots"

Today the Social Housing Magazine "Inside Housing" led with a report that housing organisations are to challenge a threat to their workers' pensions.

The Pension Trust which administrates the Social Housing Pension Fund (and many other Community and voluntary sector pension funds) is being blamed for attempting to force employers to close decent defined benefit schemes and force them to open less secure defined contributions schemes. This is supposed to be about rising pension "deficits".

To be fair to the Pension's Trust I have had conversations with people closely connected with the Trust and they say that they are fully committed to keeping these schemes affordable and open.

This morning I posted these comments on the Inside Housing website.

"While it is good news that Housing organisation are going to fight to protect their pension schemes it is absolutely vital that everyone understands that these “deficits” are frankly meaningless.

The cost of pension schemes is measured by a discredited and outdated accounting system called “Mark to Market” which even the Pensions minister Steve Webb described as a “Nightmare” which is “killing” perfectly good schemes. He has promised “not to stand “idly by” and to do something.

All employers and defined benefit pension schemes must not panic or over react. They should be working jointly with the trade unions to resolve this temporary problem. Remember closing the scheme will not get rid of the deficit. It can make it even worse.

Modern defined benefit pension schemes are as sustainable and affordable now as they have ever been. 

John Gray Branch Secretary UNISON Greater London Housing Association Branch"

Keir Hardie: First Labour MP 120th Anniversary Event

Last Wednesday 4th July was the 120th anniversary of the election of Keir Hardie as the first Labour MP.

He was elected as MP for West Ham South in the 1892 General Election.

The modern day West Ham Consistency Labour Party and Newham TULO organised a commemorative tour to mark the occasion. 25 people from Newham and East London turned up.

We started with a tour of the Old Town Hall in Stratford where the election count took place in 1892 and where Keir was announced the winner. We went onto the balcony overlooking the High Street where Keir made his acceptance speech in front of 15-20,000 people. Keir then led a march back through the borough to Canning Town.

We also went into the Bell Tower of the Town Hall and the basement Police cells. There use to be a Magistrate court next door. (Off message - but tradition states that these were the very cells that Mick Jagger and Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones rock group were held in the 1960's for minor public order offences).

We underestimated how long it would take to complete the tour of the Town Hall so we didn't manage to visit the other sites which included historic locations of the radical and suffragette clubs from Hardie's time. 

We stopped off at the Martyrs Memorial in the Church yard of St John.  Which is not about Hardie but is a symbol remembering religious persecution and bigotry down the ages. We finished up outside the famous Theatre Royal built in 1882. Then in the bar for a quick drink followed by a curry in West Ham Lane.

Following the success of this event we are aiming to carry out further Labour movement tours in the future. Details to follow.

Picture outside the Old Town Hall by Dan McCurry. I'll post more pictures of Facebook. Finally, many, many thanks to the Old Town Hall staff for the tour and their enthusiasm: Update see tour photo's here

"A Future that Works" TUC flyer March 20 October 2012

Check out this TUC resource for downloading and ordering flyer's and posters for the March in London on Saturday 20 October 2012. Scotland will also have its own anti-Austerity March and Rally.

"Merging London's Pensions: the Pros and Cons"

Last week I went to a meeting organised by the Centre of London (Demos) in City Hall to debate whether merging the 34 different Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) Funds in London made any sense or not.

"It has been argued that London's pension funds could be pooled, and that significant savings could be made from the current £30m cost of administering the 34 funds across London.

A pooled pension fund could then contribute to new infrastructure projects in London.

The event will be chaired by Liz Meek, Chair of Centre for London with speakers Bob Neill, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at DCLG, Suhail Rahuja, Chairman of Superannuation Committee for Westminster, and Ravi Govindia, Leader of Wandsworth Council. Dr David Blake, of the Cass Business School, will outline research from the Toronto Institute and on Dutch public sector funds to provide some comparisons".

LGPS minister, Bob Neil MP, could not come so his place was taken by DCLG civil servant, Terry Crossley (who is due to retire in the next week or so).

I thought that Dr Blake did demonstrate that there was a financial benefit from having better governance (by bigger schemes) although I have heard elsewhere that this is not proven. But it does make sense that bigger schemes would be able to afford more expert and specialist advice and get significant economies of scale .

While Councillor Ravi Govindia from Wandsworth spent most of his time attacking the idea that merger would fund new infrastructure projects rather than the concept of merger itself. Yet he did point out that his fund was well run and efficient so he could not see how merger would benefit his scheme and his council tax payers.

Terry Crossley gave the classic British Civil service "yes, but no, but" analysis (I will miss him when he retires) that there could be savings from merger but there could be other ways of reducing costs.

Councillor Suhail Rahuja gave a pretty convincing argument that we need to research further since "to misquote The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", the answer to the meaning of life in the LGPS is not 34.  There is no good reason for there being 34 schemes in London. Why not 17 or 7? If people think that small pensions schemes are better then why isn't the massive USS or BT schemes being pressed to be broken up into smaller regional funds?

I did ask a question to the panel why there was no beneficiary representation speaking at this meeting? After all it is workers deferred pay we are talking about?  Which I think was accepted by most of the panel.

Controversial figure Michael Johnson waded into the debate by accusing the financial services industry and vested interests of completely ripping off the LGPS. I don't think this increased his chances of an invite to Terry's retirement party!

Pensions Week reported on the seminar and concluded that merger was "broadly rejected" in favour of some form of shared services. Which I don't think actually happened. I think the consensus was that it was too early to tell and we need more digging.

With hindsight the panel should have not only included beneficiary representation but also a Pension Committee Chair in favour from a London Labour Council. Most Councils in London are Labour Controlled. The idea mooted of pooled infrastructure fund was also a mistake. Even if it makes perfect investment sense it proved divisive with some rather over excited individuals privately attacking the idea as some sort of "socialist plot".

I think we need to look at this merger idea further. Perhaps we don't need to do it, perhaps we do. While merger will be fraught with difficulties, if it saves money and improves investment performance while improving governance. It is worth looking at and considering carefully.

I have seen figures that claim merger of the national LGPS would save £300 million per year.  If this is true then in these times of austerity then these claims should be looked into.

At the end of the meeting Terry Crossley told me that there use to 3,000 different UK Local Authority pension funds. Now there is 101. So there must have been compelling reasons for this huge rationalisation and it proves that merger difficulties must have been overcome.  

UNISON Labour Link Forum 2012: Day 2

Saturday was the second (and last) day of this year's Forum in Cardiff. Check out the report on day one here. The traditional Labour Link Social had been held the previous night and "a good time had been had

by all" (it also raised money for UNISON welfare).

Forum started off at 9.15 sharp with a speech by our new UNISON President, Chris Tansley (and life long Labour Party member). Then a presentation on the UNISON Labour Link annual report and review of the year by Chair Steve Warwick and National officers Keith Birch and Julian Cooke.

In the feedback on the recent Local elections in May we heard about the computer tele-canvassing software piloted in London and Eastern region. It was such a success that there are plans to roll out the software to all regions and even possibly for Labour Link volunteers to use from home.  We were also shown the video by Southampton UNISON on how they helped get rid of its anti-union Tory Council in May (I will post when I find it).

Followed by motions on "Impact of the cuts on the Black Community"; "LGBT equality - reality not rhetoric"; Labour & Disabled people" and "The Labour Party and detrimental age discrimination".

Next were seminars on "Police and Crime Commissioners" and "Devolution". I chaired the seminar on "Devolution". Delegates from Wales, Scotland and London (who will not be facing Police Commissioners elections in November) came to together with Welsh Assembly Minister for Europe, Alan Davis (right of picture), Welsh Assembly member (and former MP) Julie Morgan and Dave Watson (UNISON Scottish Organiser and top blogger) to discuss the political impact of devolution on the Party and trade unions.

I said at the start that I was perhaps well qualified to chair this meeting since I was born and bred in Wales to a Welsh mother and Scottish father. I have since lived and worked in Scotland but have now spent most of my life in London (and am now a Councillor in the Peoples Republic of Newham where we have a 61-nil Labour majority).

Alan made the valid point that it was sometimes very frustrating being in a Labour Government in Wales since the UK media are completely obsessed about what is going on in the "SW1 bubble" and it's about time that London recognised that trains go down to Cardiff as well as up to London.  Julie made the very interesting point that this was the first ever meeting she had attended of representatives from Wales, Scotland and London discussing this issue.

Dave pointed out that before devolution he would give evidence to the London Parliament 2/3 times per year on Scottish issues. Now with a Scottish Parliament he is in Holyrood 2/3 times a week! London UNISON Labour Link Political officer, Steve Terry, also spoke about the work we are doing with Labour London Assembly members to hold the Tory Mayor, Boris Johnson to account. Difficult to do of course with someone who doesn't do anything.

After this there was Motions on "Renewable Energy" (another London Regional Motion) and a rule amendment on representation in Labour Link of self organised groups.

The Chair Steve Warwick closed the Forum and hoped that we all got home safety (the weather has been atrocious with floods up and down the country). Due to time limits he declined to accept a vote of thanks to the Chair from Bristol delegates (in joke).

On the way home I did feel reflect on Forum and felt very proud of Wales for not only keeping the faith and returning a Labour Government but also demonstrating "Socialism works" and (most importantly) "it can deliver" (Alan Davies).  

Speech on a "New Direction for the Labour Party" Motion 3

"Chair, Forum, Gloria Hanson, Greater London Region, moving motion 3 – A new direction for the Labour Party. Accepting the amendment from Scottish region.

Forum, I’m not here to sing the praises of the Labour Party and the Last Labour Government. But I could.

Equally I am not here to try and bury them either, which I could as well.

Instead what this motion is concerned about is making sure that at the next General election the Labour Party has a simple and clear overriding policy that not will not only inspire and unite us, but would be a platform to victory and give a mandate for the most far reaching and radical Labour government since 1945.  

Our society has become more and more unequal in recent years and decades. The gap between the rich and the poor, has become bigger and bigger. For decade after decade this gap has now become a gulf. It is now time not only to stop this – but to reverse it 

In the past this forum has agreed with the research found in the Book “The Spirit Level” that the more unequal the society in terms of income, the greater the ill health, the shorter the life expectancy;

The more unequal the society, the greater the crime rate, the shorter the schooling.  

Forum, Income inequality kills, it destroys people’s lives, if wreaks our society and divides us into the few haves, the many have nots... and the remaining... have nothing. 

So forum we know what the problem is – next we have to decide what to do about it?

The most successful societies in the world are therefore those who have the smallest gap between the rich and the poor. No society is perfect; no society is an absolute model for our island to choose.

But there are two facts things about more equal and successful societies.  One is that they have much higher rates of progressive taxation and public spending. 

The second fact is the gap between top and the bottom in terms of pay is simply, much, much lower. 

So the answer Forum is the next Labour government must be brave, it must be decisive. It must legislate for progressive taxation to pay for improved public services. Next it must also legislate and take action to bring down the pay of the rich and bring up the wages of our people.

Let us have a living wage not a minimum wage,  Let us end the scandal of public subsidy for bad employers who don’t pay decent wages; Let us follow the lead of the new French socialist president and lower the salaries of top public servants,  Let us as they do in many other countries let us put worker representatives on the boards of all companies; Let us rebuild an economy that delivers good jobs on decent money and not one built on financial speculation

We need our Party, our Labour Party to agree to promise to reduce income inequality by the end of its term and to take the necessary political and economic action to achieve this goal. 

What we want Forum is not rocket science. It is a plain and simple. We want a better society for ourselves and our children and this is one of the ways to achieve it.  

A society based on Fairness and need which will benefit all. Finally Forum, in one way this is not really about a new direction for our party - as a much needed return to our roots.  

Forum I move" 

"Equality" by Councillor Steve Brayshaw

Last Monday Evening at the Newham Full Council meeting, Councillor Steve Brayshaw made this powerful speech on "Equality".  As an out Gay man Steve paid homage to the murdered gay American civil rights activist Harvey Milk. He quoted Milk's famous speech called "Hope" and attacked bigotry, hatred and intolerance in all its forms. I think it is well worth listening. You can read the full speech here as well. 

AMNT newsletter – July 2012: meeting review; trustee guide discount

Association of Member Nominated Trustees

 Dear member,

Two weeks ago the AMNT hosted its summer members’ meeting with a number of topical discussions and presentations.

The event, which took place at AXA Investment Managers’ London offices in Newgate Street, began with a presentation by co-chairs Barry Parr and Janice Turner on the association’s latest developments.

Copies were distributed of AMNT’s recent submissions to the Dept for Work and Pensions inquiry into occupational pension schemes and to the Red Tape Challenge. We reflected the consensus of  all our meetings and called for DB trustees to be given the option of using smoothing when carrying out our triennial reviews.

DC trustees were updated on the discussions going on within the pensions industry, in which AMNT is participating, on development of a better type of DC scheme.

These included the finalisation of the constitution, an update on the AMNT’s lobbying activities and an insight into the potential sponsorship opportunities the association is in the process of finalising.

Then committee member Owen Walker gave a presentation on the development of the website.

This was followed by AMNT member and chief executive of FairPensions Catherine Howarth giving a presentation on the shareholder spring and how this affects trustees.

FairPensions has produced a briefing on executive pay, which has been designed with busy trustees in mind.

The idea is to make something available which gives trustees some handy questions they can ask fund managers if they want to be sure that a tough line is being taken on executive pay packages.

You can read it here: http://www.fairpensions.org.uk/sites/default/files/uploaded_files/investorresources/ExecutivePay2012.pdf

Members were then given a presentation by an AXA IM spokesperson on how investment companies can also help trustees to improve their shareholder engagement.

The meeting then split into breakout groups, focused on DB and DC issues.

The working group on defined benefit pensions concentrated on discussing a draft produced by DB working group chair John Gray on what to do if your scheme sponsor announces they want to close the scheme.

This draft is at an early stage and John Gray (john.gray@amnt.org) is very keen to hear from you if you have been through this process, regardless of whether the scheme closed or stayed open.

We are now revising the draft guide, carrying out further research and checking and we hope to circulate it to everyone in the near future. If you are interested in contributing to it please contact John.

After the break, members received a presentation by friend of the association and executive director of OPDU Jonathan Bull on the benefits trustees can receive of indemnity insurance.

Jonathan’s presentation can be downloaded by clicking here.

30% discount on trustee guide

The publishers of The Guide for Pension Trustees are offering AMNT members 30% off this publication which is on the reading list for the PMI trustees’ qualifications. The Guide is a practical and comprehensive manual for all pension trustees.

It contains the essential practical, legal and commercial information that trustees need in order to perform their roles efficiently, accurately and lawfully. You will receive free quarterly updates of the guide, reflecting the latest developments in the sector, and you will have free access to the guide online, which includes additional modules and data tables.

It normally costs £265 but the AMNT discount brings this down to £185.50, and all those taking up this offer will also receive a free copy of the Pensions Pocket Book 2012, which normally retails for £47.50. To obtain the discount you have to quote offer code GPTCW110 when you order. Telephone 01235 465 574, fax 01235 46556 or email subscriptions@marston.co.uk.

Ask your fellow MNTs to join us

The meeting was delighted to hear that AMNT has now grown to about 240 members, and we are responsible for pension funds with collective assets of an estimated £200-billion.

The more members we have the stronger our voice will be in putting forward your concerns to the industry, the regulators and the government, so if you could suggest to your fellow MNTs to join us that would really help.

Kind regards, AMNT Committee

(I posted this late so had to take out an invite to a conference that was out of date)