The Housing Crisis (and what to do about it) TUC Congress 2015

 This was my speech I made late on Monday afternoon.

"Congress, President, John Gray UNISON moving Composite 2 on the Housing Crisis.

Congress, housing is a fundamental human right yet successive UK governments have failed to ensure that its citizens are adequately housed. The result is that the nation faces a desperate crisis - an acute shortage of housing, overcrowding and homelessness.

Decades of under-investment in housing have led to 1.5m fewer social and affordable homes for rent. This has pushed up rents and house prices and squeezed the incomes of citizens, with young people and families with children struggling to find a decent and affordable home to rent or buy.

As a consequence of the housing crisis, the nation faces the huge task of building at least 250,000 homes every single year to meet housing demand, but less than half of these homes are actually being built.

The shortage of social housing and the un-affordability of homeownership has also seen the private rented sector fail to deliver. We know that young people in particular have had a poor housing deal. Many of them are trapped in a cycle of expensive insecure, short-term lets in very poor and even unsafe housing.

While Government cuts to housing benefits and soaring rents have left thousands of people facing a housing benefit shortfall and at risk of rent arrears, evictions,homelessness and widespread financial hardship. In London, where I am a housing worker, welfare reforms have led to the social cleansing of many families who have fallen behind their rent payment. In England, homelessness has increased by 9% since 2014 and across the nation, 1.6m children live in temporary housing.

Congress, given the evidence that the number of social homes has declined dramatically, and given that the Government’s 2012 promise for 1-1 replacement of  stock sold under Right to Buy has been broken, it is incredible that the Government has announced proposals to extend the Right to Buy to housing association tenants in England. This will mean a worsened housing crisis with less social housing available.

The policy will also undermine the financial ability of housing associations to build and develop genuinely affordable housing, and it will also undermine the finances of local authorities forced to sell off ‘high value’ council housing to support the extension of the policy.

Congress, given the deepening housing crisis - soaring housing costs, reduced benefits, and a depleted social housing stock - there is clearly an urgent need for housing policies that recognise the need for more social and affordable housing, not less.

Government housing policies including ‘Right to Buy’, ‘Starter Homes’, ‘Help to Buy’ and ‘Pay to Stay’ do nothing to tackle the core housing problem, which is essentially a crisis of supply and affordability across all housing markets.

Their policies will likely lead to the death of the social housing sector as they risk taking money from it to support limited homeownership and sub market renting - and as a consequence there will be fewer social homes at social rents available, leaving thousands of people on low and middle incomes struggling to find a decent home they can afford to live in.

Congress, the solution. While UNISON is pleased that Jeremy Corbyn has just appointed John Healey as Shadow Housing Minister we can't just wait until 2020. The Government needs to significantly invest in housing now and commit to a national public housebuilding programme with local authorities and housing associations playing a significant role in its delivery to ensure we build the homes people need at prices and rents they can afford.

This composite sets out a programme of work that will enable us to campaign for further measures to tackle the housing crisis.

Such as

• Developing a coherent and consistent housing policy 

• Allowing local authorities to be set free to borrow to invest in council housing 

• Reform welfare policy and enable the transition from “benefits to bricks”

• Effectively regulate the private rented sector and controls on rent

Such a programme makes sense economically. Building more homes of all types, will help create jobs and boost the economy. It will also reduce the cost of housing overall for everyone, leading to a lower Housing Benefit bill.

It will ensure people have access to a decent and secure housing that will give them the stability and security they need to raise their families in strong local communities. Finally, Congress. It is the right thing to do too, the mark of a civilised nation is one that ensures that its citizens are adequately housed.

Congress please support this composite. I move".

Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn addresses TUC Congress 2015

Despite being elected as Labour Leader only four days ago, Jeremy Corbyn, travelled down to address Congress. When he appeared there was a genuine standing ovation before he said a word. The former NUPE official (a founder union of UNISON) started his speech by declaring that he has always been and sees himself as a trade unionist.

He announced that the Labour Party have had 30,000 new members since Saturday. Labour must become inclusive and welcoming.

After being elected he went to the "Refugees welcome" rally in London and the following day to a event in his constituency on ending the stigma of mental health.

His shadow cabinet has more women than men. A first in the UK.

He has appointed a shadow minister for Housing, John Healey, to deal with the "housing crisis". The "free market is not delivering" and there needs to be a "mass Council house building programme".

Jeremy wants the Party and the Labour movement to be "more democratic". More votes were cast for him than twice the total membership of the Tories.  We need to make policy together in this digital age and let everyone bring forward their views. If they are involved then people will own the policy and work to get it implemented.

He wants to go for the election in 2020 with no surprises but instead in 2020 offer certainties.

Jeremy reminisced when as a NUPE trade union official he asked for help in negotiations over time and motion arrangements from a union member who was good at betting. Since he knew the member would be naturally good at rapid mental arithmetic. His point was that ordinary people have talents. He then attacked the "elite who despise those who don't look or sound like them".

He sees trade unions as "an organic link" with the Party and praised the strikers from the National Gallery in London who were resisting privatisation (and also in the stalls at the back of Congress).

The Trade Union Bill was the Tories "declaring war on organised Labour". They claim to be champions of deregulation but the one thing that they want to regualate are the trade unions! It is as one Tory MP has described "a strategy of General Franco". When he is elected he will repeal this bill if passed.

Jeremy believes that the Bill is also contrary to Article 11 of the United Nations Human rights Charter and the International Labour Organisation conventions. Criminalising picketing? restricting free speech on social media? "What kind of intrusive society are they trying to create?"

We have to protect trade unionism. You get better management where the unions are strong. Where unions are weak you get poor job security and worse conditions. Why don't the Tories modernise balloting of members by allowing union workplace ballots to take place?

Why don't the Tories believe that workers should have a political voice? Why are they happy to accept hedge fund money yet are obsessed with the cleanest money in politics. That from the unions.

The welfare reform bill is disastrous and will have appalling consequences. People are committing suicide because of past reforms.

He has to leave after this speech to go back to London and vote against the bill to cut tax credits. Charities say that these cuts will cost a typical lone parent £1200 per year.

The Tories call us "deficit deniers". But they spend billions of pounds on tax breaks for millionaires. They are "poverty deniers". Austerity is a political choice.

He wants the Labour Party to be proud to campaign with trade unions and he wants unions to be proud to campaign with the Labour Party

Jeremy finished by pointing out that we are a rich but deeply unequal country and if he is elected he pledges to do something about it.

TUC Congress 2015: Sunday

This post is a little late but I had to prepare for a speech on Housing as well as some urgent work related union stuff today. Above are some pictures from the first day of this years TUC and some brief comments I posted on twitter and Facebook.

The Presidents address by Prospect union national officer, Leslie Manasseh, was interesting and thoughtful. He thinks that "our aim should be not to survive but to thrive and make a difference". To do so "we must have an honest debate and take stock".

I was pleasantly surprised to note that that early on there was some polite but open disagreement and debate on the conference floor about partnership arrangements between unions and employers.

Former Postman and CWU activist, Jim Kennedy, who is now also the Chair of the Labour Party NEC gave the traditional fraternal address to Congress. I saw Jim on Saturday give the result of the Labour leadership election at the Special conference in Westminster. (By coincidence Jim is related to my cousin by marriage)

Motion 15 on "Fair Internet for Performers" made me think. Why do musicians only get £0.46 out of every £9.99 per month subscription to Spotify?

1st Unison speaker so far at TUC Congress was, Becky Tye, from our Eastern region who spoke on social care (she is the branch secretary of Broadlands where many of my union members who work in East England belong to her branch)

          Motion 15 on "Fair Internet for Performers" made me think. Why do musicians only get £0.46             out of every £9.99 per month subscription to Spotify?

There was a great speech by Musicians Union activist & Redbridge Labour activist, Barbara White, on "why the arts are a public service".

Congress finishes for the day with a standing ovation for jailed Colombian trade unionist Huber Ballesteros following the showing of a video from him smuggled out of prison.

I was too tired to go to any fringes but the Unison delegation did meet up at 7.30pm for our conference social.  A good time I think was had by all. 

TUC Congress 2015

I am just about to board a train for Brighton as a UNISON delegate to this year's TUC Congress.

There is a delegation meeting at 3pm then Congress opens at 4pm.

This is the third time I have been to Congress as a delegate.

I suspect that this year with the election yesterday of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour Leader and the onslaught that the Tories are about to inflict upon the movement tomorrow with the publication of their anti-trade union bill that it will be the most lively yet.

I will try and post/tweet as and when.

Jeremy Corbyn Wins! Our New Labour Leader of the Opposition

I was at the Special conference held this lunchtime to announce the result of the Labour Leader and Deputy leadership elections. I am an UNISON delegate to this year's Labour Party conference, so was automatically able to attend this one as well.

I had a number of quick chats with various UNISON and Labour Party colleagues in the queues to get my credentials and then into the hall including our UNISON General Secretary, Dave Prentis.  I managed to get a seat near the front. The hall was packed, warm and stuffy. Lots of hot air around no doubt!

There was an air of excitement and anticipation even though I don't think there was much doubt at the result. The press was gathered like a pack of wolves at the front staring at the crowd looking for a good (or rather salacious) photo opportunity.

While we were waiting for the start I overheard a delegate say that he had joined the Party in 1968 and had waited all his life for this moment. Sitting next to me a fellow IPAD user pointed out that the Jeremy Corbyn Wikipedia page was already showing him as "Leader of the Opposition".

The meeting began just after 11am with the Labour Party General Secretary, Iain McNicol, making a good joke at our expense by pretending to make the announcement there and then. He made some interesting comments about making sure that all the new Labour members and supporters actually turn up and campaign at the doorstep during elections. Also, that we must always make sure that our policies must relate to the concerns of ordinary people.

He introduced the new Labour Candidate for London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, who started his speech by saying that he can still not believe that a "sarf" London boy and son of immigrants was standing as Labour Mayor. Sadiq stressed how important it was that we all unite around the new leader.

All the Leader and Deputy leader candidates then trooped into the hall and sat down. There was a lot of cheering and clapping. They were all smiling even though by then they knew the results.

The first result was for Deputy leader and Tom Watson was elected by a comfortable majority, Stella Creasy was second.  He then gave a speech noting firstly that he had been told to "keep it brief" (which he rightly ignored) and that he would be loyal to any leader but that the Party itself was greater than any leader. He also had a clear sense that the election result would be a referendum on the political process as much as anything else. He warned the Tories who are sneering that Labour will not win to just "watch this space, watch this space".

Finally, the vote for Leader. It was all over in minutes. Jeremy won an outright majority on first preference vote in all 3 categories of membership. He got a quarter of million votes compared to second place Andy Burnham's 80,000. A decisive victory and mandate.

His acceptance speech was typical Jeremy. Gracious, polite but direct and to the point. He was emotional when he attacked the media for their vile behaviour towards former leader Ed Miliband, and members of Jeremy's own family.  He thanked all his fellow candidates. They have always remained friendly with group hugs.

He was thinking of forming an ABBA tribute band with them. He thanked Andy for his work on NHS. Yvette for bringing attention to refugees and described his friendship with Liz, who despite differences, is someone with real conviction.

He told us he will be attending the demonstration today in London in support of refugees. 

Thanked his staff and all unions including UNISON who nominated him. "We are a party that is organically part of the union movement". He then attacked the Tory attempts to shackle unions with their new anti-union bill.

He also thanked his friends and for their advice. Sometimes he would have rather not received this advice but that is what friends are there for.

This election was about "hope and opportunity". He welcomed back all those who had recently joined the Party who had left in the past disillusioned.

He thinks that his election shows that the young generation are "political". It was just they were turned off by the way we do politics.

The fight back starts now. 

He thanked the Labour leaders of Scotland and Wales for their work. Praised the Mayoral candidate for Bristol and Sadiq in London. "We must stop the social cleansing of London" and build homes.

"London needs a Labour Mayor and Sadiq is the man to do this".

"There has been an incredible mood change in Europe towards refugees. They are human beings just like you and me". We must recognise that going to war causes bitterness.

"We cannot accept the world's gross inequality... We are one world... Let that message go out today".

"The Tories have used the 2008 financial crisis to attack the poor". We need an economic strategy that deal with real issues.

He stands here today because of the work in the past of Labour giants but their work must now continue and now no one must be left behind.

"This campaign is about shaping our future. This will be good for everyone and bring about the justice we all crave". 

The conference then ended with the traditional Labour Party standing ovation for our new leader. I suspect that this one was more heartfelt than most have been in the past.

I'm off to Brighton for TUC Congress tomorrow morning. In the light of events this should be even more interesting than usual.

 One final thought for now. I chair the UNISON London Labour Link Committee and our next meeting is on the 21st September. Will Jeremy turn up as he always did in the past to deliver his Parliamentary report and answer our questions? I suspect that he will be far too busy but if he possibly can, he will.

Sadiq Khan Wins! Labour's candidate for London Mayor

I have just heard that Sadiq Khan has been elected as the Labour candidate for London Mayor! Great news.

"The Tooting MP said he was "overwhelmed" and "deeply honoured" after the results were announced.

Mr Khan won 48,152 votes, a 58.9% share, in the fifth round of voting after four other candidates had been eliminated.

Ex-minister Tessa Jowell, regarded as the frontrunner going into the contest, came second with 41.1% of the vote.

A total of 87,954 votes were cast".  BBC News http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34218390

Update

Check out Labourlist for full breakdown of results. Sadiq won convincingly in all categeries: - Members, registered supporters and affialated supporters. 

http://labourlist.org/2015/09/labours-mayor-of-london-candidate-result-full-breakdown/

Stop the Trade Union Bill - Stop the Tories causing industrial mayhem

The Government will on Monday (14 September 2015) publish a Parliamentary bill that will attack trade unions ability to defend and representative their members.

This is probably one of the most pointless and even spiteful pieces of anti-trade union legislation ever.

The exact detail has not been released but according to the official government consultation paper it could :-

1. Stop councils from raising revenue by charging to collect union subs from staff wages.

2. Ban strikes even if a majority of workers vote for it (also  undermining the principle of democratic elections in our country)

3. Result in criminal charges for taking part in social media protests on twitter and Facebook.

4. Allowing employers to use US style agency thugs as scab labour to break strikes.

5. Stopping union health and safety reps from being sufficient given time off to prevent accidents, illness and violence at work

Even the professional body for HR in this country, the Chartered Institute for Personal and Development has attacked the bill:-

"Proposals on strike laws are a response to yesterday’s problems, says CIPD  Plans to raise the bar for strike action divert attention from building better, more engaged workforces. The Government’s proposals on strike laws are an outdated response to industrial relations issues currently facing UK employers and could prove counter-productive" If this proposal goes ahead it will indeed prove "counter-productive". If workers' democratic rights to legally strike are not allowed then there will be an explosion of "unofficial" action and protests. If there is a legal strike and scab agencies are allowed to bus in strike breakers then there will be mayhem in the workplace. I hope the Tory MPs who actually have experience of "real" work as opposed to a life of political bag carrying (like too many Labour MPs I may add) will help kick this rotten stupid bill into touch. UNISON General Secretary, Dave Prentis, makes sense when he notes that   “Democracy won’t be enhanced by vindictively raising thresholds but by modernising balloting and allowing workers to vote from their phones and tablets.” Email your MP now to speak against the Bill on Monday https://secure.unionstogether.org.uk/page/speakout/protect-our-voice-at-work

The Beaumont Tree - When they used a stake through the heart to deal with outlaws (a time before drone strikes)

While out walking this No 23 pathfinder 8.5 mile walk in Bedfordshire during the August Bank Holiday weekend, I came across this plaque on a public footpath, which crossed a minor country road(click on photo to bring up details).

This is a really strange, strange story. Nowadays the State sends RAF  drones to kill British outlaws. In the 1700s they shot them and then buried their bodies at a crossroad with a stake through their heart.

Not sure which is the worse fate?

Personally, I think I would have also been inclined to try the large Gin & Tonic remedy for the Ague (see below) rather than use my hair or toenails. 

This is from the Bedfordshire Council website - "The parish register states that a highwayman, name unknown, was shot in Silsoe Lane (also called Beaumont Tree Lane) in 1751 which led to the main Bedford to Luton road now the A6.

The highway man was reputedly buried at the crossroads between Flitton and Silsoe near Beaumont Farm, with an elm stake cut from a hedge through his heart.

If this is true, it is surprising that it is mentioned in the church registers. From this stake, an elm tree, known as Beaumont’s or Bowman’s Tree, grew which had magic powers. Ague, a type of malaria, was common here because of all the standing water on the Moors which attracted mosquitoes. The prevention or cure for this was to hammer an iron nail with a strand of your hair or with a toenail into the tree as the church clock struck midnight. How effective this cure was is not known but in the Fens, opium was used and quinine in tonic water, liberally accompanied by gin, was also considered to be a useful remedy.

The original tree was only a stump in old photos from the 1930s and another elm stood there which succumbed to Dutch Elm disease. Pieces of the original tree are in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Downing Street in Cambridge including iron nails and black hair wound round one of them. They are not on display but are kept in storage so if you want to see them, you would have to phone to make an appointment.

In 2004, the Flitwick and District Heritage Group put up a carved post with a plaque at the site of the Beaumont Tree".

"It's from workers and it should go back to workers"

Check out this post below by UNISON's head of bargaining and Campaigns in Scotland, Dave Watson, on the first day of the Workers Capital Conference which took place yesterday.

Also this YouTube video above by the ITF.

"Workers of the world unite to save your pensions!

Workers pensions across the world are facing similar challenges and we need to learn and act together.

I was at the 2015 Workers Capital Conference today, meeting with union pension negotiators and trustees from across the world. There is great best practice that we need to learn from, but also recognise that funds are invested internationally. We are investing in each other's communities and economies. Pension funds own half of the assets in the world and we should act collectively.

The first session looked at the role of trustees and shareholder activism.

The Californian teachers pension fund had some good advice for union pension trustees. They distilled these into seven effective ways of working.

• No place for fear. Don't be intimidated by the experts and hand over your fiduciary duty to the 'money people'.
• Stay curious. Be inquisitive and don't be afraid to ask questions.
• Be unwaveringly ethical. Remain true to those you represent. Without this funds are vulnerable to manipulation.
• Think objectively. Not enough to know what to do, be ready and willing to share views.
• Work hard. Read the materials, understand best practice. But recognise there is never enough time to do everything.
• Keep focused. Money managers are skilled at distracting trustees.
• Listen first. Speak less and listen more. Intervene at the right moment, don't just follow the money managers.

The Dutch pension fund ABP talked about shareholder activism. Examples included tackling poor labour conditions for textile workers in Bangladesh and Burma. Lack of safety standards and resolving the 'leukaemia dispute' at Samsung. Anti-union practices at Walmart. The latter resulted in four years of work before divesting. Their strategy involves intense dialogue, asking key questions and site visits. Sanctions included voted against directors remuneration and finally divestment, but only when all else fails. All of this is much more robust than the sort of ESG engagement advisors in Scotland pursue.

The U.S. Bakers union have a similar strategy through their capital stewardship programme. Part of their organising department because they see this work as building the union. Companies with good governance perform better, particularly those who treat their workforce fairly. They work with other funds collaboratively to target specific issues and sectors, particularly retail companies. An example of their engagement was the retail firm GAP, promoting a living wage and a good jobs strategy.

While there were different views on priorities, there were some common issues. Infrastructure investment to boost the economy (but not PPP), climate change and workers rights are probably the three main ones and there was support for some broad common goals. Pension funds are long term investors and there was an interesting debate about the pace of change funds should expect from the companies they invest in. Fiduciary duty shouldn't be a barrier to achieving common union goals.

The second session looked at pension fund management and transaction costs. The best approach is the Dutch model who have a level of understanding and transparency that we should aim for. Scottish funds have very little grasp of the true transaction costs of their equity investments. The Dutch now have legislation regulating this approach and this includes an asset management contract that is reducing costs.

Unsurprisingly, commercial asset managers in the UK resist this approach - even those who can do it in The Netherlands, because they have to! There is no good reason for telling us what something costs - if they can't tell you don't buy their services!

We probably only know about one third of the real costs. They are much higher than we think, probably three times higher at least. This matters when pension funds are under financial pressure. When resources are tight we should look closely at costs. It is also a fiduciary duty on trustees to know the true costs of their scheme, so they save contributions, not pay for profits.

Cutting costs is best done by bringing services in house. The top performing LGPS schemes in the UK are largely delivered by in house teams, cutting out the rent seekers. Active fund management is an illusion to fool us into trading that makes huge profits for the asset managers and hedge funds. It was interesting to hear that even New York public pension funds are coming to the same conclusion about active fund management.

The lessons for Scotland are that we should introduce systems that make real costs transparent, bring services in house, and largely get out of active fund management. Another lesson is that size matters and we should pool assets.

A lot of these issues appear complex to the average union trustee. But the value of today's conference is the sharing of information and developing common approaches. There are few more important issues than our member's pensions and there is much to do".

Workers' Capital Conference 2015

Yesterday was the first day of the 2015 Workers' Capital Conference, which this year is being held in London and hosted by the International Transport Federation (ITF). This global conference of union pension activists was organised by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the Trade Union advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC) and the Global Unions Federation (GUFs).

I was there as a UNISON trade union pension trustee alongside a number of our lay activists and national officers (see picture right).

This annual conference is the international forum for trade union and pension fund trustees on the stewardship of workers retirement funds. Trade union trustees sit on the boards of pension funds worth in total $32 trillion (I think this is $32,000,000,000,000!). Which is an eye watering amount of money and a huge responsibility.  The aim of the conference is to promote decent work, a sustainable future and secure retirement for workers.

It is great not only to meet and share knowledge with trustees from all over the world but also it is an opportunity for trade unionists to do what they do best - work collectively in the interests of all our members.

The conference theme is "Pressing forward: Putting the Workers Capital Agenda to Action".

You can check out my tweets on the first day of conference here https://twitter.com/grayee. I will post further on the conference which ends today.