Tower Hamlets School Strike

Picture is from the Strike yesterday against the Tory-led government cuts by NUT and UNISON members in Tower Hamlets schools. 

I went to the picket line at Albert Jacob House in Bethnal Green and met up with these strikers on route to their rally in Whitechapel.

I understand that UNISON deputy General Secretary Keith Sonnat spoke at the rally (I had a clash so couldn't make) which was well attended.

"Battle of Cable Street" Veteran Urges Support for TUC March on 26th

Max Levitas who marched against the fascists in Cable Street in 1936 joined our Labour Party and Trade Union stall in Stratford on Saturday to pledge support for the TUC March for an Alternative on the 26th.

Max (picture) is now 95 and was a Communist Party Councillor in Whitechapel from 1945 to 1958. At Cable Street he marched alongside Phil Piratin (on of the first Communist MP's and father of one of my former UNISON branch secretaries).

He still comes shopping to Stratford twice a month and takes the 25 bus here and back.

I have seen Max speak at events in the past and once even knocked on his door while canvassing for Labour.  He is still proud to be a Communist but says he would usually vote for Labour if there was not a real Communist standing and is pleased to see the Labour Party out campaigning.  He will be there on the TUC March on the 26th.

Max warned us about the threat to the Labour Movement from those who have their own agenda and will try their best to wreck and split us.  Of course, I haven't a clue who he means?

Saying Goodbye to Bill Wakefield

Picture is from Bill Wakefield's funeral procession entering Manor Park Cemetery on Friday.  Bill was a Labour Movement Champion.  Trade Union leader, Councillor, Residents rep and Pensioners activist.

This was a traditional East End funeral for someone who had lived and worked nearly all his life in Bow.

Bill (age 81) was first seen off from his home in Rosebank Gardens, Bow, E3.  There was a very good turn out of family, friends, neighbours and former work colleagues. 

The horse drawn hearse then took Bill to the cemetery followed by loved ones and friends.  Bill's coffin was carried into the crematorium for the Service by four of his great nephews who also gave a touching personal tribute to him.  During the service we were told that Bill was from a family of 13 (only 9 lived to adulthood) and that their parents decided not to evacuate them during the Second World War so they all lived though the Blitz and the V1/V2 Rocket attacks.

Bill spent a year away on National Service then returned to work at the Post Office (GPO) before becoming a gardener in Victoria Park.  He became the Tower Hamlets Council NUPE Branch Secretary.  NUPE later merged with other public sector unions to form UNISON. After his retirement he became a Labour Councillor, Residents and Pensioner rep.

After the funeral there was a Wake with a superb spread at the Colburn Arms and I had the chance to speak to his sisters and his nephews.   Check out also these reports in East End Life and East London Advertiser

Bill was a great fan of Shirley Bassey and at the service they played one of his favourite records - it had to be her version of "My Way".

Bill Wakefield

I've just heard the news that Bill Wakefield, a former Tower Hamlets NUPE branch secretary and  Councillor passed away last night after a long illness.

Bill (seen in picture standing with white shirt addressing a housing strike committee meeting in 1999) was  employed originally as a Gardener by the Council.  He was also a fiery resident rep, staunch Royalist and upon his retirement, a vocal pensioner activist.

His passion and commitment to the interests of ordinary working people in East London will be missed.
(double click picture to bring up detail) 

Paul Myners LAPFF 2010: The Capital Market Crisis two years on

This report is a just a little late but better late than never...Former fund manager, Chair of Marks and Sparks and Labour Government Financial Services Secretary, Lord Paul Myners, speaking at the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) conference in December last year. Myners gave his usual knockabout speech, entertaining and serious by turns. Usual caution about the literal accuracy of my hurriedly typed notes.

"This is the 4th occasion I have spoken to LAPFF. I was asked to speak about what lessons are to be learnt after financial crisis. What did we do and where are we now?- what are the governance and stewardship issues?

I should be writing a book about my time as a Labour Minister but I am lazy. At the moment I am studying theology. What caused the crisis? I am not sure? Sub Prime mortgages? The search for yield? Why is yield so important? There is now huge liquidity. China makes loans to us. They manufacture more than they consume which they export to us and get foreign currency back in return. This is still the main reason for the crisis. Nothing has been done about this. With the G20 you get warm words but few parsnips.

I became a minister for the first time in the eye of the storm. 12 days after collapse of Lehman Brothers. It was far worse than I first thought. But we still cannot rule out similar crisis in the future. Chances are lower. We still don’t have ways for banks to fail. We are trying to address problems of individual banks not the system.

People who 18 months ago were saying things must change are now saying well.. we have a competitive industry and should not scare them away. The role in the crisis of auditors not been looked at all. The Tripartite approach failed. My view is that this government is wrong at this stage to be putting forward only regulatory change. I was a Director at the Bank of England for 4 years. It is very good at economic analysis but not as a regulator. Lots of clever people with double firsts but it tends to look down at people from business. The jury is out about whether the Bank has right culture to do this. Macro prudential regulation. Take away punch bowl before the Party gets too riotous? Great idea but in practice....

When Mervin King came to Alistair Darling and I and first mentioned “Quantitative Easing”. None of us knew what it meant. We will not know full effects for 2 or 3 decades. The Governor of Bank of England is right to be not worried about inflation. Interest rates to control inflation is creditable. But to take the heat out of economy? No.

Some good news. The bond market is a crazy bubble. It will burst. Higher interest rates will help your pension funds. Why are advisers buying bonds? Ask yourself has it ever been right to buy UK gilts at 3.5%? Never! but pension schemes are doing this.

Fund managers have no idea what is going on either. I was a fund manager for 20 years. At the time I thought I knew what I was doing - but now I know they don’t. Don’t bother inviting your fund managers to your investment committees. Rather you should spend the time reading the Economist.

Where were the owners in all this? The board of directors at those companies had very little idea, nor did managers – they did not have a good sense of risk. But no one in fund managers industry fessed up – somehow - we didn’t do what we should have done. We were culpable as your agents. We did not engage as we should have done.

David Walker paper is a good report but a very little advance. Remuneration was a core failure for banks. Incentives encouraged them to take risk. They rewarded success but did not penalise failure. Remember that there were 200 Bank of Scotland employees paid more than Fred. The Government have now back tracked. Other recommendations in Walker report will wither on the vine. You, the real owners need (with PRIC and others) to get your act together. Work together to be agents for change. No more owner less corporations. Also you have shares in competitors, suppliers and customers. Only LAPFF speaks for the end investor. Only by mobilisation and shared interests can you see fundamental change in governance. Or run the continued risk of corporate or sectoral failure.

We cannot prove that good governance improves superior returns but we can prove bad governance does result in catastrophic failure. Black swans".

In the Q&A I introduced myself as a trade union rep from Tower Hamlets Pension fund and he immediately remembered us sacking him and Gartmore as our fund manager. He also said that he enjoys this blog! (kind person that he is).  I said he must write his book!

Result: Spitalfields and Banglatown ward by-election 2010

The result of Spitalifelds and Banglatown Ward by election 2010 is:-
Labour 553
Respect 666
Independent 28
Lib Dem 33
Tory 128
Green 52
Shame - A Labour defeat but is actually not as bad as I thought it would be given the circumstances.  This is not a victory for "Respect" but for "Community Politics" and certain rich local businessmen.  This seat will return to Labour at the next full election. 

Picture of a very, very cold but positive Labour Party canvass team working the Spitalfields and Banglatown by-election this evening in Tower Hamlets.  Including West Ham CLP members and our local East London Assembly member, John Biggs (right).  It was snowing at first but then stopped.  It remained bitterly cold.  Our job was to call at identified Labour supporters and "remind" them to go out and vote.  Picture in Whitechapel Road. 

This evening confirmed my view that being "On the knocker" is not a winter sport.

UPDATE: apparently a 16% turnout and yes - 666 is the number of Gorgeous George the beast.

Capital Stewardship: UNISON London Pension Network

Next Tuesday lunchtime is the latest UNISON Capital Stewardship: London Pension network meeting. 

This is a meeting for  Greater London UNISON Pension trustees or member nominated representatives on the London Local Government Pension Schemes.

All such trustees and reps welcome!

We meet up 3 or 4 times a year to discuss issues and support each
other on what is often a very demanding, responsible and "head hurting" role.

Our Guest speaker this time will be from Fair Pensions who will be presenting on their new campaign “Tackling exploitative Pay and working conditions in the  Supply chain of the UK Largest Companies”.  Which I think will be more than interesting and relevant to trade union pension activists. 

I am just a little bit behind posting on Pension issues.  I have got reports on the latest LAPFF meeting, my last London Borough Tower Hamlets Pension scheme panel (and committee) as well as last week's really excellent annual TUC Pension Trustee event.  I must catch up.

Tower Hamlets: A bit of a flashback

Tower Hamlets Councillor Rachel Saunders gives her personal take on what has gone wrong with the local Mayoral election.  Hat tip Labour List (and Unmesh Desai!)

"Thursday night, the night Labour lost Tower Hamlets, felt like a bit of a flashback. The venue was different, York Hall instead of Canary Wharf’s Winter Gardens, but Oliur Rahman and Rania Khan were doing V for Victory signs, hard working Labour activists were miserable and Ken Clark (London Labour's regional director) was at the front of the room looking grumpy.

One difference though – in 2006 I went up to a couple of Labour councillors and gave them a piece of my mind for working as a part of a group of Labour councillors who were making deals with Respect and others to save their own skins and knife councillors they disliked. This time Lutfur Rahman was victorious, but no longer in the Labour Party, at last openly supported by Respect and by others who travel through political parties as it suits them.

This election result came after a messy summer, where two separate panels made up of NEC and regional board members decided not to shortlist Lutfur Rahman, but he got on the shortlist through an appeal. Having previously declined to shortlist him, NEC members chose not to accept his nomination by the local party, and voted instead to impose the sitting council leader Helal Abbas.

Abbas is a decent man with an impressive personal story. From his leadership of the local squatters movement in the 1980s, standing up for Bengali families in desperate need who were excluded from social housing, to his record as the first Bangladeshi council leader, Abbas was the best candidate to steer us through the difficult times ahead. Why did he lose?

It will take a bit longer than a day to articulate what went on in the Bangladeshi community over the past few weeks and months. It is important to be clear that our greatest campaign leaders and activists were Bangladeshi, and that Lutfur presented himself as “Real Labour”, exactly like Respect before him – the bonds that tie our party to the east end of London remain strong, and our opponents only win by impersonating us.

I think our loss has two root causes. One, despite London region intending to run a short selection process and leave us a long summer to campaign, the cock ups and conspiracies meant we must have appeared to our electorate to spend the entire summer warring amongst ourselves. Combined with the London mayoral selection and leadership elections that many of us were involved in, we can’t blame our electorate for feeling like we lost our focus on what should really matter. We did continue to run campaign sessions several times a week, but not everyone will have seen us. This will have contributed to the very low turnout.

Secondly, Lutfur’s narrative was up and running before our story had its boots on. Lutfur presented himself as a victim of the evil Labour Party machine. He had much of the Bengali media behind him, and the intervention of Ken Livingstone, who turned up a few days before polling day and did a walkabout with Lutfur that the BBC were available to film, meant that Labour Party process was all anyone could talk about. Added to this was a smear campaign more filthy than I could have imagined – and I’ve seen a few nasty ones since Respect came into town.

Make no mistake though, there is no difference between the coalition of people that came within one councillor of toppling us in 2006 and the people who managed it on Thursday. Previously Ken Livingstone came to Tower Hamlets to slate Jim Fitzpatrick MP and give Galloway a hug, this time he slated Abbas and hugged Lutfur. Siraj of Clifton restaurant was a supporter of Galloway then and he’s a supporter of Lutfur now. Oliur Rahman, the first Respect councillor and opponent of Jim Fitzpatrick in 2005, who has been a member of four political groups in as many years (SWP/Respect, Left List, Labour, Lutfur), was crowing at the Labour defeat.

The selection process was a mess, but the NEC were absolutely right to stop Lutfur being the Labour candidate.

We defeated Respect convincingly in May 2010, and we’ll do it again. We’ll do it in exactly the same way. Again, we have a wave of new activists who are disgusted at what they have seen and want to defeat it. Again, we have excellent local organisation and hard working talented activists and councillors. We’re stronger than before, with two excellent Labour MPs. We’ll win back the hearts and minds of the people of Tower Hamlets through demonstrating that we understand their concerns, and that only Labour can represent the whole of our community.

This time we’ll have to stand up for them in opposition at the Town Hall. If you oppose the politics of hatred and division that Galloway stood for in Tower Hamlets - before we drummed him out - then stand with us".

Helal Abbas - Labour Mayor for Tower Hamlets Campaign Launch

Picture is from the launch yesterday by Tower Hamlets Council Leader, Helal Abbas, of his campaign to become Labour Mayor. (picture by Dan McCurry)

I wasn't there but from Facebook reports I understand there was lots of Party members and 28 Tower Hamlets Councillors present.  There was also at least 2 Newham Councillors.

The Labour Party has expelled 11 members including 8 Councillors for supporting the "Independent" candidate and quite rightly anyone else who campaigns against the Party will also face expulsion.

There was 5 campaign sessions in Tower Hamlets this weekend. The campaign office is at 349 Cambridge Heath Road, London, E2 9RA and will be open for canvassing and leafleting from 10am-6.30pm every day until the election.

Or you can ring 0207 729 6682 or email abbas4mayor@gmail.com for further details.

I'll be seeing what Tower Hamlets trade union affiliates can do to help.

Abbas 4 Mayor

"Le Roi est mort, vive le Roi!" Despite the inevitable fuss and bother the local Party are pulling together around its Council leader, Helal Uddin Abbas (centre with file), as the Labour Party candidate to be Tower Hamlets Mayor.

No one person is bigger than the Party.  Our elected National Executive Council leadership have decided overwhelming to back Abbas in very difficult circumstances.  Abbas is an able and experienced leader and politician.  He was very positive towards the trade unions when I was the Tower Hamlets UNISON Labour Link officer and I have always thought he was a decent and honest secular socialist. 

I understand that there has been a failed legal attempt to challenge this decision. Nominations close at noon tomorrow. 

I shall look forward to the campaign!

Hat tip for picture to Dan McCurry.

Lutfur Rahman acceptance speech as Labour Candidate for Mayor

I have just come across this Youtube video of Lutfur Rahman outside the Labour Party headquarters in Bethnal Green last weekend.  He was clearly elected as the Labour party candidate to be Tower Hamlets Exectuve Mayor.  The election is on 21st October 2010. 

Hopefully Galloway will stand as a candidate for Respect but since he obviously doesn't like losing (or rather being trounced) - I doubt it.

"Explore the Story of Social Housing in Tower Hamlets"

Shame I cannot make this local history open day on Saturday.  Mind you I still don't like the term "Social Housing" which was a term first used by one Michael Heseltine (I prefer "Public Housing").