Asbestos Legal Update: London Regional Health & Safety Committee

Picture of Thompson's personal injury solicitor, Ann-Marie Christie, with London UNISON health and safety network members.

Yesterday lunchtime she gave an update to the Regional Health & Safety committee and branch officers network on the latest legal developments. 

The good news was that there was finally justice for many victims of the deadly asbestos cancer Mesothelioma following the recent ruling by the Supreme Court against 6 rogue insurance companies (the so called "trigger issue"). Who for the past 6 years had tried to get out of paying compensation by arguing that they should not pay out when the company they insured actually fatally exposed their workers to asbestos only when the cancerous symptoms developed. Since this was often decades later when the insurance policies were expired this of course would have meant that many of the 2,500 people per year who get Mesthelioma would receive nothing.

While this is indeed a victory (by the trade unions who funded the appeal) it is too late for all those who have died in the meanwhile since 2006.  Their families may now finally get recompense.

No such good news on the battle for Pleural Plaques compensation nor for a bureau to register the insurance policies for companies that have now gone bust. The TUC estimate that at least 5,000 people die every year from asbestos related conditions and that 1 in every 100 men born in the 1940's will also die prematurely from these conditions. The majority of asbestos imported into this country took place from 1955 to 1980.

The movie actor, Steve McQueen, died from Mesothelioma. Not because he was a racing driver who wore fire retardant overalls which contained asbestos, as I had read, but because he had worked in ship engine rooms and ship yards before he become famous. 

Update: I forgot to mention that I thanked Thompson's at the meeting for a £60k settlement they won for a member of my branch who suffered a nasty accident at work. Ann-Marie stressed the importance of taking pictures of the accident scene as soon as is possible.

WPP: Have your say on High Pay

(better late than never) "Dear John,

You might not have heard of WPP but you’ll have seen what they do. They are the world’s largest advertising group, producing adverts for companies like Nike, Heineken and Coca Cola.

On Wednesday, at its annual meeting of shareholders, WPP will put its CEO’s pay package to the vote. That pay package gives WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell:

• Total pay of £29 million
• A 60% pay rise
• An increase in his potential bonus from 300% to 500% of his salary

http://www.fairpensions.org.uk/highpay/wpp

In 48 hours FairPensions will be at WPP's meeting in Dublin*. It’s time to tell overpaying companies, starting with WPP, that enough is enough. We're asking supporters to add their names to a petition that we're going to present to the WPP board.

Sign the petition and we'll take your voice with us to the meeting in demanding WPP change their pay practices. 

http://www.fairpensions.org.uk/highpay/wpp

We want to send a clear message to WPP and other excessively paid FTSE 100 CEOs telling them that the days of spiralling executive pay are over. We've only got 48 hours until the WPP AGM so please do share this action with friends and colleagues.

Thanks for your support

Matthew, FairPensions

*WPP moved to Dublin in 2008 to take advantage of lower corporation tax rates than in the UK. For more information on WPP and why we're targeting them click here: http://www.fairpensions.org.uk/highpay/wpp/info "

Llangollen, Castell Dinas Bran and Valle Crucis Abbey Walk

Off message (ish). Last week I spent hill walking and visiting relatives in North Wales.

We stayed in a 17th Century cottage in the centre of Llangollen. Which is now a beautiful if a little touristy old welsh borders town and crossing over the magnificent River Dee.

In the past it use to be a very industrial area of water mills, canals, railways and mines.

This walk (number 24 pathfinder) was on Bank Holiday Monday. Castle Dinas Bran overlooking Llangollen is well worth the effort. An ancient romantic ruin with fantastic 360 degree panoramic views.

The route below Eglwyseg cliffs is quiet, peaceful and vivid lush green. There is an upside to the rain in Wales after all!

Valle Crucis Abbey is stunning even if it is in the middle of a caravan park. While the final section past Horseshoe Falls and the Shropshire Union canal is simply gorgeous.

(I'll post pictures on FaceBook)

Campaigns Organiser Newham Labour Group

Campaigns Organiser
Newham Labour Party
Based: London
Salary: £28,987, Fixed Term Contract
A Campaigns Organiser is sought for the London Borough of Newham’s Labour Group.

Based in Newham and reporting directly to the Mayor you need to be an effective communicator with experience of running political campaigns and leading and motivating teams of volunteers. You will contribute to strategic planning using your knowledge of local issues and campaigning techniques.

This role will involve planning campaign events, canvassing sessions and drafting and producing leaflets and other written material based on an agreed campaign plan.

You will be required to support and facilitate the work of the local campaign teams. You will need excellent IT skills and must be prepared to work both evenings and weekends in the run up to elections.

You will also be required to provide political input into the policies and practices of the Council as formulated by the Mayor, Executive and Group.

We are looking for a start date any time from now until October 2012 depending on the right applicant’s availability.

Closing date for applications is 22nd June. Interviews will be held on the afternoon of the 29th June.

For more information or to submit an application contact Robin Wales at newhamlpapplications@gmail.com

(main advert Labour Party website here)

Newham timelapse of the Olympic Park

Excellent youtube video of the changing landscape following the building of the Stratford International Station; Westfields Shopping centre, 2012 Olympic Stadium, Aquatics Centre and Olympic Village.

ill Manors Review by born and bred Forest Gater

Check out this post on Labour List by Ellie Robinson on the film "ill Manors" which is set in Forest Gate, East London. Ellie is born and bred in Forest Gate and is now a local Councillor for the area.

I have lived there also for the past 20 odd years. It is actually a fantastic place to live but like most parts of London there is a tiny dark side which I think Ellie addresses very well in her post.

This is the second link to blogs by Ellie this week. Check out her thoughts here on a recent visit to Israel and Palestine.

The rather graphic picture above is the "official movie" poster for the film. I think it partly depicts the two tower blocks overlooking Wanstead Flats in Leytonstone rather than Forest Gate. One of which is the Fred Wigg tower which may hoist anti-aircraft air to air missiles during the Olympics.

Ironically I use to live and work in Edinburgh in the middle/late 1980's. Is this film a 2012 "Trainspotting"?

Update: Sunday Times yesterday refers to the film being set in Forest Hill not Forest Gate!

Housing staff pay price of Cameron’s Britain

Inside Housing magazine published today research showing a huge year on increase in violence against housing staff.

“Spat at and slapped. Bitten. Punched. Forced to the ground and beaten. Every day in the UK a front line housing worker is falling victim to this kind of violent assault”

"Shadow housing minister Jack Dromey said: ‘Government cuts to housing are not only hitting tenants hard but putting at risk the safety of those who serve the public. To add insult to literal injury, changes such as the bedroom tax might see tenants vent their anger on those in the front line.’

While "Jake Berry, parliamentary private secretary to the housing minister, said: ‘Any assaults on housing staff are absolutely unacceptable’, and that Mr Dromey’s comments linking changes to benefits to violence were ‘utterly baseless and completely disgraceful’.

I was quoted as "John Gray, housing association branch secretary at public sector union Unison, said: ‘This is what happens in the everyday life of housing officers up and down the country.’

He added that tenants who fall into rent arrears as a result of the government’s welfare reforms and are threatened with eviction ‘won’t blame the coalition, they’ll blame the infantry’. So you can see which side of the debate I was on.

Since I think what Jack Dromey said is very true. Things will get even worse with the bedroom tax. Not only that but due to Coalition spending cuts in the Health and Safety Executive and local authority enforcement there will be less protection and support available for staff.

It wasn't reported that I had also said when interviewed by Inside Housing that part of the solution was  employers and trade union safety reps working together in partnership to protect staff.  However there were certain "rogue employers" who refuse to work with unions and frankly treat their staff with as much disdain as they do their residents . 

If assaults and injuries occur in organisations where risk assessments are not properly carried out or implemented, incidents not investigated or polices not enforced then the CEO and senior management teams of these organisations need to be targeted by the HSE/Local authorities and dealt with under the law as criminals in the same way as the actual perpetrators of the violence. 

"Active Responsible and Engagement Investment Approaches: Do they deliver positive returns?"

Last Tuesday evening I went to a seminar organised by the Pension Investment Academy and the University of Westminster Business School(Marylebone Campus) via the AMNT. The seminar was about whether responsible investment and engagement approaches actually work. Which is a pretty fundamental topic I posted on recently here.

Why I believe as a pension investor and trustee that investments should be made in a social responsible manner. I have to ask what empirical proof or evidence is there that such a policy actually achieves a positive return especially when compared to investments on behalf of those who don't worry what happens to their investments as long as they make money. 

I can remember being told many years ago that it is the duty of pension trustees to maximise the performance of their fund and nothing else. Which is clearly nonsense (then and now).

There was a pretty high powered panel of speakers from the Pension Protection Fund, Mercer, BT Pension fund and Henderson Global Investors.

The good news is that it seems that there is now research that engagement can add to returns and could reduce risk and volatility. However, the evidence is so far patchy. Certainly there is the argument that such active stewardship in Banks could make a "rerun" of the recent global banking disaster "materially less likely" (Walker Review 2009).

In the Q&A I did respond to the points made by some members of the panel that voluntary regulation is better than the state being involved, by saying that the lessons from the Banking crisis is that laissez faire capitalism failed and that you need more state regulation not less.

Also that until our investment advisers start advising trustees that it does make financial sense for the fund to be active then most trustees will not have the confidence to do so. Many fund managers (not all) in my experience see SRI as a unnecessary interference  in their right to manage money as they see fit. They simply pretend otherwise to win and keep business.  Regardless of the Stewardship Code you will need the support of your advisers to take them on.

Update: evidence on positive returns by Helene Winch from BTPF  here ; here; here and here 

Hat tip cartoon Kevin Wong

(I spent 3 years on a day release at the Westminster University site in the late 1990's to do a CIH post-graduate diploma. It was nice to be back but due to expansion and building works the campus is now unrecognisable).

Abbey Gardens Summer Fair - Saturday 9 June 2-5pm

On Saturday 9 June there will be the Abbey Gardens Summer Fair in  Bakers Row, West Ham, E15 3NF. Abbey Gardens is a fantastic community garden project in West Ham Ward on the site of a 12th Century Abbey.

Ken thanks London UNISON for help during Mayoral campaign

This letter from Ken Livingstone was sent to Linda Perks, the London UNISON Regional Secretary and circulated to our regional committee.

"Dear Linda
Thank you for everything you and London Unison did to help with the London Mayoral election campaign.

London Unison has been fantastic - not simply by donating, but through unwavering support, the ideas you contributed and the campaigning you undertook.

Please also accept my thanks for the very excellent work of London TULO, without which we would have been far less effective.

The trade union movement is central to achieving progress in our society.  From the outset I wanted a campaign that worked with the unions, that knitted in the progressive ideas of the trade union movement, and sought to address the very issues faced by our trade union members.  I am proud that we worked so hard to achieve those goals.

Many people wrote the campaign off from the start and could not have expected it would come so close. I am sorry that I was unable to pull off a victory that so many hard-pressed Londoners were depending on.

We didn't win, but the idea of a fairer London should not be lost.  Our policies showed a fairer way forward for the Capital's residents: cutting fares; improved neighbourhood policing; introducing a London EMA; providing better and cheaper housing; helping people with the cost of living from affordable childcare to reducing price of household energy bills.

Please ensure my thanks are passed on to everyone in the union who played their part.

It has been a great inspiration to be part of this London election campaign with you. I very much look forward to working with you again in the future.

Thank you again.

In solidarity

Ken Livingstone