its time to talk - time to change

This is great advert on mental health which went out on TV tonight, which means a lot to many, many people.

MEAT is murder-ing Care Quality and leading to a race to the bottom

MEAT in Care and Support stands for "Most Economically Advantageous Tender(s)". 

Check out last Fridays "Inside Housing" for this account by top UNISON Regional Organiser, Colin Inniss of why MEAT is a disaster for employees and clients because it results in price being the determining factor in a successful bid. 

Colin supports my UNISON Housing Association branch in London and also the Voluntary Organisations branch. 

He has seen first hand how
"You cannot deliver consistently high standards by impoverishing the pay and pensions of staff and compelling them to work ever longer hours. You simply end up demoralising staff, downgrading their professional skills and increasing their vulnerability; and all for the aim of winning and retaining that competitive tender.
It’s not rocket science; in an unseemly race to the bottom, no one wins".

Urgent, urgent update on LGPS 2014 England and Wales (Council Pension scheme)

This is very important. I will say this only once! If you have been in the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS, Council pensions scheme, superann etc) and for whatever reason you have stopped contributing into the scheme BUT you still work for that employer and can rejoin - then do so before April or else.

do it now, don't delay, don't forget about it, don't put it off. Rejoin the scheme. You already know it makes sense but if you don't rejoin before the new scheme in April you could lose big time (see below).

 From UNISON's National Pension Officer Glyn Jenkins
"The Regulations changing the LGPS will come into force with effect from 1 April 2014 . PLEASE DO WHAT YOU CAN TO MAKE COLLEAGUES AWARE OF THE MESSAGE BELOW AS SOON AS POSSIBLE

1. Below is an important update (that was on the UNISON website News section), covering where we are on the Transitional Regulations that will set out the protections on benefits earned before April

2. Last chance reminder that anyone who has currently opted out of the LGPS MUST rejoin immediately if they want to ensure the earnings link protection on any final salary benefits they have earned up to April 2014 ( there may be some protection for those who opt back in within 5 years of opting out). If the cost of the contributions is the problem then they should be reminded that from April there is an option to pay half their normal contribution rate for half the pension. They should approach their employer pension department and ensure that the forms to rejoin has been returned and received before the end of this month. If they are not actively contributing to the scheme then any benefits they earned before they opted out that fall outside the proposed five year window protection to opt back in, will go up in line with prices (currently Consumer Prices Index) not earnings

3. Anyone thinking of paying Additional Voluntary Contributions to maximise tax free lump sum payment when they retire so they don’t have to exchange so much of their pension for cash at the relatively poor exchange rate of only £12 cash £1 pension should elect to start paying the contributions BEFORE April 2014. If members elect to pay AVC’s after April then when they retire they are likely only to be able to take part of their AVC fund as a cash sum ( currently 25% of the value) and the remainder they will have to buy extra pension at whatever the annuity rates will be in the future from a pension provider like an insurance company. Members ,especially those near retirement , should consider paying AVC’s if they can afford it and approach their employer pensions department for details of the AVC arrangement operated by their employer/LGPS fund. They can as an alternative buy extra pension in the LGPS.

LGPS transitional regulations update

The government regulations covering transitional arrangements for the Local Government Pension Scheme are still delayed, because the government has yet to decide whether councillors should continue to be allowed to join the LGPS, following its consultation last year.

UNISON head of pensions Glyn Jenkins, who sits on the group that is checking the draft regulations, commented: "There are no plans to reduce the protections that have been agreed, which are in the current draft."

As drafted, this would mean the 'rule of 85' protection will go over into LGPS 2014 unchanged from what it is now. So any part of a person's service that is currently covered by the rule of 85 would not be reduced for early payment if she or he decides to retire at 60, unless they have not completed enough service by that time to satisfy the rule.

Those who voluntarily decide to retire between the age of 55 and 60 with full or part protection for the rule of 85, would have an early retirement reduction unless the employer agreed to pay to remove it.

There is still fine tuning to be done about the level of the reduction in such cases.

UNISON believes it has succeeded in arguing that the reduction will only count back from age 60, not 65, but this will be confirmed when the regulations are laid.

Also as drafted, the current definition of final pay and the protections on pay will remain the same for all service up to April 2014. The underpinning protection for those who were within 10 years of their normal retirement age at April 2012 is also in the current draft.

"UNISON is pushing for the transitional regulations as drafted to be laid as soon as possible, to remove uncertainty," said Mr Jenkins.

"We are concerned that, because of the delay in bringing the transitional regulations into law, some members are considering leaving the scheme or even resigning their jobs - under the false impression that the protections will not be implemented and the equally false impression that leaving the scheme would somehow protect their past service rights in the LGPS.

"In fact, all those who want the final earnings protection on their LGPS service to April 2014, must make sure they are contributing to the LGPS when the regulations change in April."

The Scottish LGPS and Northern Ireland LGPS are separate.

Who owns all the land in the UK?

So 0.6% of the population own 47% of the land!
Check out "Inequality Briefing"

Their source for this picture is "Kevin Cahill’s comprehensive analysis of land ownership in Britain, Who Owns Britain (Canongate, 2002)".

It makes you think about all the wealthy landowners who pay no tax on their land  receive large subsidies from the Government and the EU.

Then contrast with the rest of us who have to pay Council tax (a form of Land tax?) on our properties. This doesn't seem fair at all.

However, I am not sure what is the percentage of land is owned by collective bodies (Forestry Commission, National trust etc). I would have thought this would be quite significant?  Would this make any difference to the figures?

The UK is often portrayed as an "overcrowded" Island. Yet when you go walking in the hills and countryside or when you fly over the UK is often doesn't seem like this. Even 30 minutes drive from East London you can walk in relatively empty countryside and hardly see a soul.  Only 7.5% of the UK is actually "under concrete".

Is one reason for sky high house prices in the UK this huge inequality of land ownership?

The Collins Report (& Join the Labour Party at the Reduced Trade Union Rate)

I'm going to try and wade my way through the Collins report later today but in meanwhile I have updated my "Join the Labour Party" link on this blog with a link to the Party website where you can join at the reduced trade union rate.

This is £22.50 per year (for now?). 

Non affiliated trade unions can still "Join, Donate, Renew" at the full standard rate of £45.60 per year (reductions for retired, unemployed, young and Armed Forces) here

NEC report to Community SGE 6 February 2014

This report is on the UNISON National Executive Committee (NEC) Meeting which was held on 4 December 2013 at the UNISON Centre, Euston Road, London.

This is my personal report from the prospective of a Community NEC member. Please circulate to any UNISON members in your branch who are in the Community Service Group (predominantly housing associations and voluntary sector members).

The NEC is the UNISON Parliament (outside our national conference) and made up of elected lay activists from all the different parts of the union and from all over the UK.

NEC meetings are normally chaired by the President of UNISON who this year is Maureen Le Marinel (see picture). She works as a Police control room operator and is secretary for Lancashire Police branch. Maureen is the first gay women to hold this office in the union.

Our General Secretary, Dave Prentis made his report to the NEC. Dave reported on further Government cuts to services that will impact all members across the union. The importance of Pay moving up the political agenda and becoming a key issue.

UNISON will be encouraging members to join credit unions instead of using pay day loans. The Union is financially secure but will not use our reserves to pay for running costs.

He is pleased that Labour and Ed Miliband is taking up the unions views on Zero hours contracts and attacks on TUPE.

During a wide ranging questions and answers session Dave acknowledged that we are no longer a single employer trade union and we will have to change with the times.

During a debate about the role of strikes and demonstrations I made the observation that as a lay activist I enjoy marches and taking part in industrial action as a last resort but we should spend as much time and effort on organising and recruiting in workplaces. Because are in a “chicken or egg” situation. Until we raise our density levels and steward structures it is very difficult to have successful strike actions.

There was an encouraging report on the recent UNISON advertising and recruitment campaign which has brought in 4,000 new members per week in a 5 week period.

I commented on the full page adverts in our sector such as “Inside Housing” which does encourage recruitment but also supports the presence of the union at work. There was a 30% increase in recruitment compared in 2012.

There has been a large rise in our Community membership (and young members - which is always very good to see). The Private and Voluntary sector has made up 25% of all new joiners to the union.

It was also announced that there was a special legal working group looking into the consequences of the recent court case about TUPE and consequent pay awards.

During the finance report I asked about the impact that the problems the Co-op was having and the ongoing right wing attack on mutualism.

There was an update on National Delegate Conference 2014 which is being held in June at Brighton.

UNISON is starting an Apprenticeship scheme for its own workers. 6 young people have been employed in Camden (home of Unison centre). This is an experiment which it is hoped will be rolled out to the regions. The apprentices will all be paid a living wage (not the government £2.85 per our) and will be offered Level 3 not level 2 training.

There is a review ongoing on the effectiveness of the “Fighting Fund” organisers before a decision is made on whether to move to a 3rd stage.

There will be a Political ballot of all members in 2014 on retaining the General and Affiliated (Labour Party supporting) political funds.

The NEC congratulated UNISON members in Future Directions for their 29 days of strike action against massive cuts in pay and conditions.

The NEC also sent condolences to members who had lost family - in the Philippines typhoon.

Finally there was a briefing on the "Worth it" (all public service workers deserve fair pay) and the Teaching Assistant campaign.

I am planning to make regular reports to Community members on NEC meetings. Please circulate this report to any Community members in your branch and let me know of any issues or campaigns that I should be aware of or can offer assistance.

Yours faithfully

John Gray

NEC Community General seat Member (and Secretary of Greater London Housing Association Branch). If any Community branches or members want to contact me please ring 07432 150 530 or email john.gray2012ATbtinternetDOTcom (personal blog John’s Labour blog http://grayee.blogspot.co.uk/ and Twitter @grayee)

Monmouth By Election 1991 - Labour win in safe Tory rural seat

Interesting video regarding modern political history. A reminder also that there should never be any "no go" areas for Labour. In this by election they concentrated on Tory plans to privatise the NHS (plus ça change, plus c’est pareil) and won (then lost then won again then lost)

Labour can (and has) won in rural Britain. In fact this was where the Labour movement came from - Tolpuddle Martyrs.

Hat tip Captain Swing.

No whingers - National Register to Vote Day

This morning on Breakfast TV there was a really, really sensible and articulate young man on why everyone should register and vote.

My view of course is if you don't vote then don't complain or whinge about anything to do with the government or local councils. 

Such winging without even voting once every 4 years is frankly pathetic. But is your choice. 

But remember that millions of Brits have died for your right to vote. 

Don't disrespect them.

A family member of mine has a Zero hour employment contract on minimum wage. She lives in marginal Tory constituency. I asked her if she voted at the last general election and she and her partner said no.

Tories Abuse Civil Service for Party Political Propaganda

Hat tip to Captain Swing for this tweet tonight by the Government Department Communities & Local Government in favour of Tory political propaganda about freezing Council tax.

It called on people to "lobby" their councils in support of Tory policies?

The DCLG twit(ter) claimed that this "infographic" was made at no cost?  So I said did it appear by "magic"? Did no-one do any work to make it appear?

This Government should not be using and paying civil servants to push controversial political agendas on official sites. Ignoring the fact that this particular argument is ignorant and stupid (in my opinion) if you really believe in a politically neutral civil service (never mind "localism") you should not allow them to run such blatant political propaganda.

That is the job of the Chief DCLG village idiot, Pickles and Tory central office, not paid civil servants.

London Underground Strike

The first 48 hour strike has just started. Checked out here TSSA account of the background to the strike rather than the Tory media (or the KGB Standard).