Upshire Walk & Site of Boadicea End Game?

Off message but went for a great country walk on Sunday around Upshire in Essex.

Check out the free Essex Walks website.

I thought that I knew the area quite well but this 5.5 mile walk was different and apart from the distant buzz of the M25  (and crossing the motorway), it was very quiet and we hardly saw anyone until the end of the walk.

Near the start is "Boadicea obelisk" which you can see in photo on right (in between are deer running away from us). Which is probably just an 18th century folly but local tradition says it marks the site of the suicide of the Iceni Queen Boadicea following the defeat of her army nearby by the Romans.

You can walk over a broken barbed wire fence and visit (trespass?) the obelisk but there is nothing written on it. It is strange place and I found it very atmospheric. Who really knows what happened here?

The rest of the walk was lovely with lots more history and going up and down hills with great views but nothing too strenuous. The final bit, cross country in Epping Forest proper was another highlight. This is a recommended walk only 25 minutes by car from Newham, London.

More pictures on Facebook

"You Cannot Pick & Mix Which Human Rights to Respect" National Express LAPFF14

The President of the USA Teamsters Union, James Hoffa, sent a video message to the LAPFF conference to thank them for our support in their campaign to stop the North American arm of British company National Express's union busting.

Teamster Louis Malizia then explained to the conference more about the low pay & exploitation by National Express of school bus drivers as part of an "International Activism" debate.

He pointed out the reputational risk to the company from such behaviour and the considerable USA litigation risks from commonplace breaches of Labour law and health & safety legislation.

In the Q&A I made a contribution that there are Ten United Nations Universal Principles of Human Rights. Responsible investors have to respect all Human Rights and this includes Principle 3 regarding trade unions - "Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining".

My point is that you cannot "pick and mix" which particular Human Rights you want to uphold. You have to uphold all of them equally. I hope that National Express and other rogue employers such as the Board of UK Catalysis Housing Association, will understand that if they do not uphold all human rights - then they run the obvious risk that they will be accused of not respecting human rights.

Cherie Blair CBE QC "how better business practice can drive both market & social returns" LAPFF14

Picture of Guest Speaker at LAPFF conference, Cherie Blair, with the youngest member of the Newham Council Pension Committee (and possibly in the entire UK?) Cllr Seyi Akiwowo.

Cherie spoke about how when she started to practise law, human rights was not on the agenda especially for pensions. A common view at the time was that of the economist, Milton Friedman, that the only job of business was to maximise profit.

Nowadays most retail shoppers surveyed say that business ethnics matters but will they remember this during a Black Friday wrestle?

Socially responsibly investment is not a drag on company performance but improves it. According to the FT only 50% of companies currently comply to the Code of Practice.

Pension funds are holding the keys to capital, you can demand good business practises. You can help bring about change in the world - in the here & now. Issues such as child trafficking are not just for the  Police & Governments but also for pensions funds.

Those who are sceptical of this should remember the German philosopher, Schopenhauer's, three stages of truth "First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident".

Cherie also referred to the glass ceiling of women on Company boards. Research shows that most board appointment are made are the basis that "they know the company Chairman". Diverse boards result in better financial returns

Cllr Akiwowo asked Cherie on behalf of young people "How do we make pensions more sexy and make all aspects of diversity important? While Newham's elder Pension statesman, former Chair of LAPFF, John Saunders, also asked her a question relating to her work for the Kazakhstan government. Both questions were smoothly and calmly answered by her.

She agreed with Cllr Akiwowo that we need to educate young people about pensions and make pensions more relevant to all.  Also in response to John, that you cannot live in an  "ivory tower" and must be prepared to do the right thing even in a different and difficult environment.

Engagement Panel at LAPFF14

The next item at the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) conference was a panel on  "engagement" with Cllr Kieran Quinn GMPF, Chair Sir Merrick Cockell, Cllr Richard Greening LBI and Cllr Cameron Rose LPF.

Investor engagement is probably one of the most significant things that LAPFF does on behalf of its members. "By bringing local authority funds together to work collectively, the Forum is able to maximise their influence" .

Cllr Quinn started by pointing out how important it was for investors to engage and keep an eye on  all the companies they invest in - who would have expected Tesco's to have behaved in such a way? Trinity Mirror refused to accept that they had a problem with the Hacking scandal but all the information from "Hacked off" proved to be true. How could Barclay's justify giving three times as much money in bonuses as they returned to investors?

One of the most positive engagements he experienced was after the Rana Plaza garment factory collapse in Bangladesh when reputable companies were coming to us to explain what they had done and what they were planning to do. There was no investor rush to exist Bangladesh which would have not helped.

Sir Cockell pointed out that with engagement "you may lose the vote at Company AGM but still win the argument"

Vice Chair of LAPFF, Cllr Rose discussed the engagement he has had on Carbon risk with the UK major oil majors and the fall out from falling prices.

Cllr Geening talked about how engagement can take time and be difficult. Such as the lack of progress with National Express on their anti trade union activity in the USA. Management don't think there is a problem. However, it took time for similar issues to be dealt with at First Bus and engagement did eventually work.

I raised a question to the panel about whether they would support disinvestment in a company as a last resort if engagement failed?

The panel response was as a very last resort they would consider disinvestment but it would have to be at the very end of the road. The whole purpose of engagement is to change company behaviour and if we walk away from a company then it won't necessarily change anything.

There was a good point made about what would be the future of engagement if the LGPS was forced to invest only in passive (tracker funds) and therefore could never disinvest.

LAPFF Conference 2014: Public Funds & Public Purpose

Yesterday I came back from the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) conference. I will post more on the conference later on.

It was I think the best attended LAPFF conference I have been to which reflects the huge changes and chellenges that the Local Government Pension Schemes (LGPS) faces and that membership of LAPFF is at an all time high.

The conference opened with a welcome from LAPFF Chair, Cllr Kieran Quinn Greater Manchester Pension Fund.

The Conference Chair was Sir Merrick Cockell, former Conservative leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council and the Local Government Association. He is now deputy Chair of LPFA. I found his remark that "No matter what your politics are you must be concerned about the under supply of housing" interesting.

He also said that we nationally need to invest in infrastructure for not only social purposes, but for sustainable and better returns than gilts & bonds. He believes the future is pooling & collective investments and you don't just need sovereign investment funds such as Qatar for such infrastructure & housing projects.

In the past Sir Cockell has publicly supported the merger of all 101 LGPS into just 5 funds and that this could result in some 300,000 new homes being built every year.

Next was a debate on LAPFF "engagement".

PSI names every single health worker killed by Ebola ...

We were shown this powerful video at the UNISON National Executive meeting this week. The meeting also sent our support to the 1000 NHS workers who have volunteered to go to West Africa to fight Ebola. Many of whom will of course be UNISON members.

"Over 300 workers have died on the job in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, trying to save lives and contain the Ebola outbreak. They were doctors, nurses, midwives, cleaners, ambulance drivers, pharmacists, community health workers – among others. PSI wants to remember all of those workers one by one, name by name. We will honour their sacrifice by pledging to ensure that all workers enjoy safe working conditions everywhere and to strengthen the fight for quality public healthcare for all." Read more at http://bit.ly/1rkOv7f

Rosa Pavanelli, General Secretary of Public Services International (PSI)

Why do the Tories love the financial services industry? Follow the money...

"The latest figures from the Electoral Commission reveal that in the last quarter, hedge funds gave the Tories £1.34 million in donations, bringing the overall total to £51.1 million. These are, of course, the same hedge funds which were given a tax cut worth £145 million by George Osborne in 2013.

A further analysis shows that almost £3 million of donations in the last quarter came from donors who have attended exclusive private dinners with David Cameron and other senior ministers, taking the total to £7.7 million from dinner donors in 2014.

Shadow Cabinet Office minister Jonathan Ashworth said: “The Tory election campaign will be funded by those who dine exclusively at the PM’s top table and a select few in the hedge fund industry. They have been given tax breaks while hard-working families are struggling to make ends meet. The Tories are standing up for those at the top at the expense of working people across the country. Whether putting private profit before patient care in the NHS or siding with the energy industry over consumers struggling with the cost-of-living crisis, David Cameron stands up for the wrong people.”

Contrary to David Cameron’s 2010 election pledge, the Conservative party still relies heavily for its funding on individuals and companies associated with asset management. The most recent donations include: just under £303,000 from Michael S Farmer of RK capital management; over £260,000 from James R. Lupton of Greenhill; £176,000 from Christopher Rokos of Brevan Howard; and almost £112,000 from Andrew Law of Caxton Europe Asset Management. But given that Conservative party membership has fallen by over 100,000 since Cameron took over as Leader, it is small wonder that he is relying on a small pool of mega rich donors who can buy access to ministers. The latest figures show that they amount to 40 per cent of all party donations, up from 25 per cent in the quarter starting from April this year.

In June, in response to a question from Labour and MP and Tribune columnist Stephen Pound, Cameron promised to publish the results of Lord Gold’s inquiry into the cash-for-access scandal. He still has not done so. No surprise there, then".

Hat tip John Street's Diary at Tribune 

Debate on Local Government Pay dispute

Today during the meeting of UNISON National Executive Committee there was a wide ranging discussion on the recent dispute on Local Government pay. For some reason I was reminded of this lovely song. I have updated some of the words in honour of the occasion.

"You say defeatist, I say realist; 

You say sell out, I say fantasist; 

You say betrayal, I say strike chasers; 

conspiracy ,delusion, naivety; 

Let's call the whole thing off...".

Some good news is that I am going to be the special guest of Lambeth branch at the Special Local Government conference which will held next year. Hopefully I can speak on their behalf about future strike winning tactics.  

"...And you complain that your neighbour is an immigrant?"

Your car is German.
Your vodka is Russian.
Your pizza is Italian.
Your kebab is Turkish.
Your democracy is Greek.
Your coffee is Brazilian.
Your movies are American.
Your tea is Tamil.
Your shirt is Indian.
Your oil is Saudi Arabian.
Your electronics are Chinese.
Your numbers Arabic,
Your letters Latin.
And you complain that your neighbour is an immigrant? Pull yourself together.


(hat tip the wonderful Mary Locke)

London Labour Conference 2014 - Question Time Panel

Yesterday was the London Labour Conference 2014 which took place at Hammersmith Town Hall. I will post in more detail on the conference later this week but the picture is of me addressing the "Question Time  with London's MPs, MEPs, AMs and Cllrs" panel in the main hall.

On the panel was Clive Efford MP. Claude Moraes MEP, Val Shawcross AM, Cllr Alice Perry and Cllr Stephen Alambritis. London Labour Vice Chair Linda Perks (and UNISON regional secretary) chaired.

"Conference, Panel, John Gray, UNISON delegate and Chair of the London UNISON Labour political fund, asking about the governance arrangements of London 3rd sector  organisations such as Housing Associations and Charities who are nominally independent but in fact are hugely dependent on public funding, direct or indirect.

Some of whom act in undemocratic and unaccountable ways, such as the London Housing Association called Catalyst, who is currently trying to de-recognise UNISON while also refusing to speak to the union, those who give their senior executives huge pay rises and those who have no meaningful resident or client input in the way they are run.

What can be done to make such organisations in London accountable, democratic and transparent?

Val Shawcross replied that she when she became an Assembly member she was astonished to find that there was some 500 separate Housing Associations in London. Some of them are run well and have tenants on their board but she has concerns about others over issues such as fire safety and diversity. A future Labour London Mayor should make positive progressive requirements over the sector. We may have lost sight of this due to the massive problem of supply.

I had some interesting conversations afterwards and offers of help with the Catalyst issue which I will take up if needed.

For further information on the Union busting by Catalyst click on its name in "labels" under this post.

(hat tip West Hammer Shagufta Nasreen for photo)