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)

Abbey Gardens Winter Fair - Saturday 6 December 2014

"Dear friends,

Winter is fast approaching and so is the end of the gardening season 2014.

At Abbey Gardens we are busy harvesting parsnips, celeriac, chard and leeks and having a good shed clear-out.

The last event of this season will be our Winter Fair on
Saturday 6 December, 4 pm-6pm

Visit the garden in Winter and celebrate the season with us. There will be:

· Warming winter drinks
· Soup made from Abbey Gardens’ produce
· Christmas carol sing-along lead by members of Regent Community Brass Band
· Cards and garden goodies on our honesty stall
· Lots of fairy lights
· And our ever-popular cake stall

Free entry. Drinks, food and honesty stall produce for donations to the garden.

It will be nice to see you in the garden, come and join us for some festive fun.

For a perfect ending to your day, why not continue on to All Saints Chorus and Orchestra's 20th anniversary concert. They will be performing Bach's Christmas Oratorio at West Ham Parish Church (All Saints), Church Street, E15 3HU. The concert starts at 6.30 p.m. Tickets are available on the door and are priced at £15, concessions £10.

And if you are keen to soak up some early Christmas atmosphere come and see us at The Printhouse Christmas Market on Saturday 22 November. The Printhouse is located at 133 High Street, Stratford, E15 2RB.

Thank you for all your support this year.

Friends of Abbey Gardens"

From our events team
Publicity graphics kindly donated by Catherine French

Join the Pension Scheme Revolt against Executive Greed at BG Group

I have just contacted my own pension schemes and asked them to ensure that our fund managers
are instructed to vote against BG Group paying its CEO up to £25 million.

If you agree then Click on the ShareAction links below to contact your own funds. It takes two minutes and all you need is the name of the scheme and not policy numbers.

"Dear John,

Another incoming CEO, another unreasonable pay packet. This week there’s a revolt brewing over oil and gas giant BG Group, who are looking to pay incoming CEO Helge Lund up to £25 million.

Not only is this seen as high in the industry, it is in violation of the pay policy approved by BG shareholders only six months ago at their AGM. Shareholders are being asked to approve Lund's pay packet at an extraordinary meeting next week.

Our savings give us a say at that meeting: our pension funds are BG Group shareholders, and they can vote no to this excessive pay deal.
Will you tell your pension fund to vote against Lund's pay packet? Click here to email your fund.

Investment managers and Business Secretary Vince Cable have already come out and criticised this pay packet, while industry experts have labelled it "excessive and inflammatory." [1] Over the past few years, more and more shareholders have been taking a stand against high pay – and supporting calls for companies to pay fair wages instead.

At a time of austerity, when millions are struggling financially, greed at the top through high pay destroys trust and contributes to growing levels of inequality. We have the opportunity, as pension savers, to counterbalance this and use our savings as a force for good in the investment system. So let’s group together and put that to the test.

Our pension funds are big shareholders in BG Group – if enough of them vote no, then it would be enough to reject the pay packet at BG’s meeting next week. 
Can you send your pension fund a quick email to make sure they vote no? We’ve got a template email you can get started with.

Let’s make sure that BG, one of the largest oil and gas companies in the world, know that excessive high pay won’t fly with us or its shareholders.

Thanks for taking action,
Bex, Colette, Juliet and the rest of the team at ShareAction

[1] Jill Treanor, "BG pay deal 'excessive and inflammatory', says Institute of Directors," Guardian (25 November 2014);
Christopher Adams, David Oakley and Michael Kavanagh,"Top investors warn of revolt over new BG Group chief's pay deal," Financial Times (26 November 2014);
Joe Murphy, "Vince Cable urges shareholders to reject £12m bonus deal for energy chief," Evening Standard (26 November 2014).


UPDATE:  Great news from ShareAction - BG have withdrawn proposal

These Czechs "worked" in the UK for less than four years. No benefits for them?

Great tweet by Tomas Prouza the Czech State Secretary for European Affairs in response to our Tory Prime Minster latest pandering to racists

The vast majority of EU citizens who come to this country come to work and are not interested in claiming benefits. 

We don't mind when young Czechs come to this country to fight and die for our freedom but if they come to work and pay taxes then should they be treated as Totaleinsatz.?

A Living wage for all Newham Council workers?

At the last meeting earlier this month of the Regeneration and Employment Scrutiny Commission, Councillors considered a "Living Wage" for all Newham Council workers.

We had a presentation by Emmanuel Gotora and Paul Regan from Newham citizens on behalf of the Living Wage commission.

Our Scrutiny meetings are open to the public and recently the Council constitution was changed to allow photographs to be taken during such meetings.

At our first meeting following the election in May we had agreed the work plan for the next year. This included an examination into whether Newham Council should be a Living wage employer, which was a manifesto commitment and Labour Group policy. In order to scope out how we will investigate this our Scrutiny officer had contacted the Living Wage Commission who had recommended we invite Newham Citizens to come in and present to us on this subject.

Paul was a retired Methodist minister and long term Newham resident who is a Board member of the Living wage commission and Emmanuel is a paid senior organiser for Newham Citizens.

The Living Wage is now £9.15 per hour in London and £7.65 per hour in the rest of the country. While the National Minimum Wage is £6.50 per hour.  All directly employed workers for Newham Council are paid at least the living wage but not indirectly employed staff such as care workers or agency cleaners. To be an accredited Living wage employer, there must be a plan in place for all staff, direct and indirectly employed, to be on a living wage.

Low pay is a huge issue in Newham, which according to these statistics "the proportion of residents paid less than the London Living Wage was highest in Newham (37%) followed by Brent (32%). while the borough with the lowest proportion of residents in low paid work was Richmond upon Thames (11%). Nearly 20% of Newham workers are also estimated to be paid less than even the National Minimum wage. 

Paul and Emmanuel explained that the number of living wage employers was now over 1,000. There are also now 19 FT 100 companies who pay a living wage compared to only 4 two years ago. You have up to 4 years to complete the process to be a living wage employer.

11 London councils (out of 33) pay a living wage and in total 30 councils nationally. There are about 600,000 predominantly black and female workers in London who somehow exist on below a living wage. The taxpayer is forced to subsidise these poverty pay employers with housing benefit and tax credits.

Being an accredited  living wage employer only costs a maximum of £400 per year for a local authority (£50 for a small employer) and there is very little ongoing compliance costs since unions and workers are relied upon to "whistle blow" if they are being cheated out of an agreed wage.

Over 80% of businesses report positive economic benefits of a Living wage.There is greater retention of workers, which means spending less money on recruitment and training.  There is also less time reported off for sickness. A living wage also builds individual economic resilience and helps "make work pay".

They suggested that perhaps the Royal Docks ward should be the first Living Wage zone in the Country. Beating the plans of Canary Wharf in Tower Hamlets who are actively thinking of doing this.

When business consultants KPMG introduced a Living wage for their office cleaning contracting staff, they redesigned the contract and improved quality while also reducing costs. Bins were taken away from individual desks and offices were given collective bins. Cleaners were asked to work during the day rather than early morning or late at night. This meant that cleaners felt they were part of the company and were also available for spot cleaning during the day. This saved money and improved quality.

Paul and Emmanuel also talked about their campaign elsewhere in Newham. They have met with London City Airport who won't pay their cleaners a living wage. They say that they would look into it if their partner Newham Council, also became a living wage employer. Newham council has a powerful voice and could be an important exemplifier to other local businesses.

This was a positive and constructive meeting but we cannot forget that due to the savage Government spending cuts in Council grants, Newham is facing unprecedented financial challenges. Further commission investigations into the Newham Living Wage will be held in the New Year.

Mansion tax would affect just four families in every thousand

If you own a £2million home you can afford to pay the Mansion Tax to help save the NHS. As Ed said it's Pure and Simple. 

Amazing that the Tories think its okay to throw poor people out of their homes if they can't pay the bedroom tax but want rich millionaires to to pay less income and property taxes.

Check out the truth about the tax here. I know that some have genuine concerns about this policy but I cannot wait for a Labour Government to introduce this measure. The report below shows that it will only affect 4 families in every 1000.  I am bothered about the needs of the many and not the rich. It is simply about time that the rich and wealthy in this county paid their fair share of taxation.

"A study compiled for the Evening Standard newspaper suggests that Labour’s proposed mansion tax would only be paid by 110,000 households, of which 86,000 would be in London.

This needs careful examination, as there is obviously a concerted campaign going on against this proposal.

First, DCLG statistics suggest that there are 27.7 million homes in the UK. The Mansion Tax would be levied on a small minority of very expensive properties worth more than £2 million. 110,000 households equates to 0.4 per cent of the UK total – just four households for every thousand.
Second, despite misinformation to the contrary, there is actually a very close association between owning a house worth £2 million and having a very high degree of income and other forms of wealth. In blunt terms, a mansion tax would be a tax on the rich".

hat tip stronger unions Paul Sellers