Fanning the Flames of Hatred?

Before we "tut, tut" too loudly about the morons in Sudan who have locked up a volunteer teacher for allowing a teddy bear to be called “Mohammed”, we shouldn’t forget we have more than our own share of home-grown religious berks. I’m not this time referring to Galloway and his Respect Renewal but rather to the new Christian Fundamentalist website “MegaMosqueNoThanks”. This site appears to be run by a certain Newham Councillor, Alan Craig, from the “Christian Peoples Alliance” (CPA). His name and telephone number is on the press release.

In one way I am reluctant to pay any attention to such ignorant and puerile nonsense. However, it’s hard to do nothing and stomach people in your own neighbourhood who simply want to inflame age old religious prejudices by trying to divide our communities.

Religion and race is a sensitive issue in Newham which is probably the most ethically mixed borough in Britain. However, by and large, despite problems, I think that communities in Newham interact and get on much better than elsewhere in Britain, especially when compared to some northern cities. This hasn’t happened by chance, but due to hard work by many local political, community and faith leaders. This is what makes these opportunistic attacks on the proposed mosque so despicable.

The simple facts of the matter are this, a Muslim religious group (Tablighi Jammaat) has been trying for some time to build a large mosque (seating for 12,000 - a little bigger than the East London Mosque in Tower Hamlets) on an isolated Brownfield site in West Ham, Newham.

As well as Craig, a number of others including the British National Party (BNP) have been deliberately provoking tension by spreading lies and misinformation about the mosque.

For example, Craig claims that even more Muslims will move into the area because of the mosque (untrue, but so what?), others have wrongly claimed that £100million of public money will be used to fund the mosque, reports have linked the mosque with the Olympics and deliberately exaggerating the size of the mosque.

There are claims and inferences that in some way Tablighi Jammaat supports terrorism and that there is a “threat” to the Olympic site?

This is irresponsible gutter rabble rousing at its worse.

Sensible decent Christians such as the Newham Christian Socialists Movement CSM have attacked Craig over this issue.

Does anyone seriously imagine that Craig would have opposed the building of similarly sized Christian evangelistic church? No, I don’t either. I really do not know how anyone who calls themselves a religious leader can be so upset and concerned about another faith building a religious centre, regardless of its size? Good luck to them if they can fill it! would be the response of most reasonable people.

By all means you can express your views, but send out press releases, to post videos of your self on YouTube, to pay for and set up a web site on the subject? There are plenty enough real issues of concern in Newham such as poverty, poor housing and gun/knife crime. Why is all of this of secondary interest to the building of some mosque?

I am afraid that I am left with the distinct impression that Craig is using his own followers, his electors and the media purely to stoke up his own ego and sense of importance. He is a squalid, grubby, tin pot politician who will do anything regardless of any cost in order to chase cheap headlines and notoriety.

Now, come to think of it, perhaps this post is about Galloway......?

World Aids Day - Edinburgh CRO

UNISON has a good web page on what the trade unions are doing to mark this day. Check out the links with the TUC and the UNISON guide to “Working with HIV and AIDS”.

In the mid 1980’s I was a welfare rights volunteer at the Edinburgh “Citizen Rights Office” (CRO). Edinburgh at the time was one of the first British cities to have significant number numbers of heterosexual HIV and AIDS sufferers. The majority of them had been exposed to HIV by sharing needles while injecting heroin. This was just a few years after the time and the place where the film “Trainspotting” was supposed to have been set.

At the time the CRO was very proud to have won the right for people who had HIV to have extra social security benefits in order for them to be able to afford a better diet and kept their weight up. This had been argued successfully at DHSS appeals to have made it less likely that they would go on to develop AIDS. I don't know if this practice is still accepted?

Times have moved on and now the CRO in Edinburgh is closed and due to medical advances HIV/AIDS, although very serious, is not what we thought at the time to be almost an automatic death sentence.

Still, I often wonder how many of the young people (I was in my early 20's at the time and most of them were much younger than me) I saw while at the CRO are still alive?

Things are not by any means perfect in the UK with regards to medical provision for HIV/AIDS. But it would be good if in another 20 years (or rather sooner!) everyone in the world with HIV/AIDS had access to decent health care and life saving medication.

I suppose this is the real point about today.

Safety of Front Line Housing Officers

Excellent article and survey in yesterday’s “Inside Housing” by Simon Brandon on the risks from violence at work and occupational stress for front line housing staff.

Working in “social housing” (ugly word, wish they could think of something else) has changed dramatically in recent years. The article has housing officers pointing out that they are now expected to be “social workers.....environmental health officers, plain clothes police officer and agony aunts”. None of which is in any job description. 73% have feared for their safety while at work.

I remember another inside housing survey in 2005 where 11% of staff reported that they had been held against their will in resident's homes.

I think that one of the biggest challenges is that most housing organisations are now really trying to tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB). For years “neighbour nuisance “was sweep under the carpet as the sector complained about either the lack of effective legal powers or not having any co-operation with the Police.

However, “More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones.” St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582). The government have now responded with an avalanche of ASB legislation and reorganised local policing. If you tackle this behaviour then the risk to housing staff has to be reassessed. Not only is the threat of being thumped (or worse) increased but often staff are expected to carry out this time intensive role without adequate extra resources.

Specific problems were identified such as inadequate sharing of information about known violent residents. Staff report that they are often alone in a room with someone whose background they know nothing about. They later find out that this person has a history of violent conduct. Also the massive increase in the size of many housing associations is also blamed for “driving a wedge between bosses and their housing officers”.

I think (surprise, surprise) that the role of the union safety representatives is central to addressing these problems. We need to make sure that suitable and sufficient safety risk assessments (including the risk of occupational stress) are carried out and regularly reviewed. Regular safety inspections of workplaces are undertaken, particularly of receptions and interview rooms. Accidents and incidents must be reported and properly investigated. There should be formal joint safety committee meetings with union reps and management. Problems and issues should be sorted out locally whenever possible.

The safety management system of an organisation must be constantly reviewed and audited. An organisation may have the best policies and procedures, however if they are not actually being implmented in practice and are just gathering dust on a shelf (or nowadays a computer hard disk) then they are just a waste of time.

The unions also have a responsibility to make sure that we recruit enough, train and properly support our safety reps.

One positive outcome of the survey was that a majority of staff (70%) reported that they enjoyed their work (despite low pay). I think we all recognise that the overwhelming majority of residents are not a threat, it is only a small minority of “vulnerable, desperate, manipulate or unwell people and they can often be very unpredictable”.

Burma: We don’t want our Pay and Council Tax used to support the Military Junta.

I found out last night at the Tower Hamlets Council Pension Investment Panel, that one of our fund managers have £2.3 million invested in Total (the 2nd highest holding in that particular fund) and £1.3 million in Chevron (7th biggest holding).

I suspect that our other Global equity fund will have similar investments in companies who have trading interests in Burma. We also own shares in companies such as GlaxoSmithKline (the huge British based drug company) who according to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC – click on this link for a full list) has business links with the Burma.

Many members of the pension scheme are furious that their pension contributions and council tax are being invested in companies that support the Burmese military junta and allow the murder of unarmed monks and civilians who are peacefully calling for democracy.

This is part of a complaint that local Tower Hamlets resident, UNISON member and Head Caretaker, Tony Boyce, has sent off to his Labour councillors (seen left with his granddaughter).

“I have been a member of the Tower Hamlets pension scheme and a Council tax payer for over 20 years. I have lived in Tower Hamlets for all my life. I am looking forward to eventually retiring and then being able to spend more time seeing my grandchildren grow up.

I would like to think that I would be able to help them out with them going to college or leaving home and getting their own place. What I would hate to think, is that my pension (which is my deferred pay) is being paid out in part, out of money earned from investing in Burma.

Burma is a horrible military dictatorship, which kills and enslaves its own people. I think that due to sanctions and criminal legal investigations that the pension fund could also lose money if they continue to invest in Burma. I ask the trustees of my pension scheme to stop investing my money in Burma”.

The Labour Councillors present, Bill Turner (Chair of the Pension and Accounts Committee) and Joshua Peck (Cabinet and Lead member for Performance and Resources) asked for a full report on what companies the fund held that had business interests in Burma. I volunteered to send over the ITUC list.

At the same meeting we discussed the scheme signing up for the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI)

Finally, to illustrate how difficult these issues are – I asked the Global Equities fund manager after he gave his presentation to the Council investment panel (who are quasi-pension trustees) about the financial risk of sanctions, boycotts, criminal prosecutions and the reputational risk of investing pension money in Burma. Surely, the pension fund was facing a financial risk of continuing to invest in Burma?

He argued that the proportion of Total or Chevron assets invested in Burma may appear to be a large figure (up to $1.2 billion) however; they are only a tiny part of the total assets of that country. So if they lost money over Burma it would arguably not make that much of a difference to the company share price (I disagree).

Also, this fund manager is what they call a “quantitative” investor. That is they try to emotionally detach themselves from the companies that they invest in and only concentrate on the financial “fundamentals” (balance sheet, long term profits, market share, share price compared to profits, orders etc).

They actively invest in companies where they think the fundamentals are sound but where due to “market sentiment” the price of a company is lower than they should be.

(I accept that I have probably not adequately explained this properly, remember the usual health warning, this is my report back to members, my interpretation, not that of the Tower Hamlets Pension fund)

So we may have this crazy, crazy situation where some investors think that now is the time invest in Burma because many investors are pulling out on political sentiment rather than economic fundamentals

Personally, I think since it is now accepted that owners of capital in modern day democracies won't make money out of trading in opium then equally they should not think it is acceptable to make money out of Burma.

Der Rote Wedding (Red Front)

This post is inspired by the scene outside the Oxford Union the other night when BNP leader Nick Griffin, and holocaust denier David Irving, turned up as invited guests of the Oxford University Union.

It is an Anti-Nazi combat song from 1928 by the German Communist party from the anti-fascist stronghold of Wedding, Berlin, Germany.

Good stirring stuff, however, I hope next May in London and elsewhere we are more successful in stopping the Nazi’s winning elections than in pre-war Germany!

Hat tip Col Roi

Local Government Pension Scheme: is it a Bath or a Sausage Machine?

It is strange the things you come across at seminars. Like most of the 3.5 million members of the £100 Billion plus Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), I thought it was just a means to save for my retirement. Not according to very senior civil servants at the CLG who apparently think it’s a “bath” while the top UNISON governance expert thinks it’s a sausage making machine.

The civil servants have used this term in negotiations with the unions. Apparently they think it’s a bath since there is suppose to be a tank of “money” with two taps pouring money as needed into it (one tap filled by the employer and one by the employees). When the bath reaches the level of the overflow then money flows down the pipe to pensioners. A warm "goldilocks" bath – not too warm, not too cold is of course the civil service “idyll”.

Hmmmm.... I suppose I could point out that actually this bath need 3 taps since 40% of income for the LGPS actually comes from investments. As a estate officer I should point out that the overflow pipe should only be used in an emergency!

The contrary view is that the scheme should really be viewed as a “sausage making machine” and instead of concentrating on the sausages, we should spend more time on the machine itself. Employer and employee’s contributions as well as investment income is poured into the machine, the machine mixes them all up and hopefully the end result is pensions (also known as sausages/benefits).

Instead of spending too much time worrying about the end result (the sausages/pensions/benefits!), you should instead concentrate more on the ingredients and processes. Because if you get them right the sausages (also known as pensions/benefits) will always be ok?

I think all of the delegates at today’s GMB/Unite pension seminar in Eastbourne still think that the LGPS is a saving scheme for their retirement however; the sausage machine argument did make more sense.

One of the major reasons for recent problems in the scheme is that it simply has not been governed properly. For example a few rotten apples have used the scheme as a “cash cow” to keep council tax artificially low and win elections (and worse).

The unions have all traditionally been concerned about benefits to members. However, if we concentrate too much just on the benefits and not the source of these benefits (the scheme itself) then we are just storing up trouble for ourselves since we will always have to be reactive to events instead of being able to have a constructive input into the scheme - before it goes bent.

Pensions at Eastbourne

Eastbourne is quite an appropriate place I suppose to hold a seminar on Pensions. I am part of the first ever UNISON delegation to attend the annual GMB/Unite T&G Pensions seminar.

Which is held every year in the Eastbourne Conference Centre (which is owned and managed by the T&G - an excellent "hotel", my room overlooks the beach and it is only 5 minutes from the pier). Interesting stuff (to me anyway) on the future of pensions, ill -health retirement and risk sharing this afternoon.

A number of presentations and work groups planned for tomorrow including UNISON on Capital Stewardship. I will write up something more detailed when I get home. It finishes tomorrow lunch time. Everyone is very friendly, positive about working together and extremely constructive. Most unlike any other joint trade union meeting I have ever been at! Is it something to do with pensions? I can't post any photos to this blog so will update with something suitable when I get home.

Newham Council, its Logo and my blog

This morning I received this email from Ian Tompkins, Head of Newham Council Communications Unit about the use of the Council logo in this post about the sacking of Newham UNISON Chair Michael Gavan. This is what he sent.

Dear Mr Gray

We've noticed on your blog site there is a reproduction of our council logo (the Newham "ribbon" logo). I cannot trace any request from you for permission to use this so would ask that you remove it immediately.

Thank you.
Ian Tompkins, Head of Communications, London Borough of Newham, Town Hall, Barking Road, London E6 2RP
Being the courteous and polite fellow that I am this is how I responded.

Dear Mr Tompkins

Thank you for your email. I must admit to be somewhat surprised that senior managers spend their time scouring the blogsphere on the look out for errant Newham council logos. I am not sure that this is a good use of my Council tax? Mind you, I suppose this is a better use of senior manager’s time than victimising and sacking trade unionists. I have replaced the offending logo with a photo taken from a public place. I assume that this is OK? If not please let me know.

Formally, please can I ask for permission to use the logo since what with the future industrial action over Michael Gavan’s dismissal, the internal appeal and employment tribunal applications (all sort of hearings) there will be lots and lots to blog about in the future.

Cheers
John
I thought I might as well post some pictures of past Newham trade union and Labour Party leaders who will no doubt be spinning in their graves at what is going on over Michael’s dismissal.

Newham is arguably the birthplace of the Labour Party and modern day trade unions. Left is Keir Hardie, the first ever Labour MP who was elected for West Ham in 1892 ; Herbert Blaine who is credited in 1905 with forming NALGO which eventually became part of UNISON, while working for West Ham Council (ironically like Michael he was not a Labour Party supporter and was in fact a lifelong Tory!) and finally Will Thorne, West Ham Labour MP 100 years ago and founder of the GMB (Beckton gas works).

UPDATE: 25 minutes after I sent this email at 18:07 today I got this two word reply from Mr Tompkins - "Thank you". A bit brief for a Head of Communications I suppose. What exactly does this mean? can I use the Newham logo? I suppose it does. As suggested on this post's "comments" should I put in a FOI request?

“It’s the unions wot won it”

Labour Sweeps to Power in Australia Elections. Congratulations to Australian Labour Leader and Prime Minister elect Kevin Rudd.

He has put to an end to 11 years of right wing rule. Former Prime Minister John Howard is thought to have even lost his own Parliamentary seat.

I am sure that the whole Australian Labour movement deserves praise for what appears to have been a well thought out and united sensible political campaign.

However, is also good news for the trade unions in Australia who have been at the receiving end of some pretty vicious anti-union government policies in recent years.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) have just published some interesting research on the result which suggest that Industrial Relations (IR) was amongst the most important issue for nearly 80% of Labour voters (45% said it was their single most important issue). The Unions also appear to have played a major role in mobilising their members to come out and vote.

Hope Brown has a read.

Newham “Total out of Burma” pickets

On route this morning to Lyn’s T Party I stopped off at the East Ham “Total out of Burma” picket outside the "Total" Petrol garage in High Street North. Today there has been a national day of action outside the French oil company “Total” Headquarters and their petrol garages across the UK.

"Total" is simply a dreadful and unethical organisation, which despite being the 5th biggest oil company in the world, is one of the very few that insists on investing in Burma and gives the military junta hundreds of millions of dollars each year in taxes and kick backs.

This money is used to buy guns and bullets to shoot and kill monks and other unarmed peaceful protesters who just want democracy and freedom for their country.

After the “T Party” I went to the picket outside the "Total" garage in Romford Road, Manor Park with another Labour Party colleague, former Councillor and UCL branch Chair, John Whitworth (seen wearing the placard “Total-ly out of order”).

There were 9 of us on this picket, 5 of which were Burmese. This is very good for an overseas solidarity picket. (There were 12 picket lines across London alone). We were carrying placards and leafleting motorists who were caught up in the usual very heavy traffic along that stretch of Romford Road.

I was on the entrance to the petrol station speaking to motorists who had pulled over for fuel. I must admit that this was one of the most successful pickets that I have ever been on. Nearly all vehicles pulled over allowed us to speak to them. They remembered the awful scenes of soldiers shooting unarmed monks in Burma. Most agreed to drive away to Tesco’s at Barking (I also told then that it was cheaper!).

Nearly everyone was pretty horrified at the connection of "Total" with the murderous regime in Burma. They did not know that their money was being used to profit a company that condoned mass murder.

Many were dismayed that they would in anyway at all be supporting the Burmese junta and insisted that I look at their petrol gauges, which were near empty and that they had to get fuel in case they ran out. We agreed that maybe they could get a gallon of petrol to get them out of trouble.

Lyn Brown MP had asked if she could attend however after the T Party she had to go to a service for a new church in Stratford. The protest had to finish before she could get to us, but she will send the Burma campaign a message of support.

I’m not going to romanticise this protest too much. However, I have been on a fair number of pickets over the years. It was firstly good to be out numbered by Burmese members of the picket (even though I suppose we should have been able to get more non-Burmese protesters out).

It was also encouraging to speak to ordinary people about something “political” and get what I thought to be a thoughtful and positive reaction. I don’t think that I have ever been on a picket line were we have ever turned back so many people. People also understood the argument and agreed that boycotting was an appropriate and legitimate response to what has gone on in Burma.

It was something that all East End Brits regardless of race, religion, nationality or class wanted to support. Chauffeur driven Rolls Royce’s and Citroen 2CVs were all turned back when we spoke to them about why we were picketing.

We had loads of cars “hooting” in support and people shouting supportive remarks as they went by. OK, as you can imagine not all remarks were 100% supportive, especially as traffic was held up at times when motorists stopped to talk to us. But overall the protest was very successful. As you can see from the pictures, we persuaded lots of people to boycott Total, this is normally their most busy day. I suspect that this will contribute towards the long term "reputational risk" that "Total" faces for its policy towards Burma.

I couldn’t make it to the final picket tonight at the "Total" HQ in Baker Street. Hope it went OK. Will speak to Labour Party comrades about organising further pickets at these garages in the future. Maybe monthly? Next week I am due to go to a Local Government Pension Union trustee conference. I will try and bring this issue up here as well. Watch this space.