UNISON's national campaign to bring the oil giants BP and Shell to account is making real progress, particularly where pension fund members have requested the pension fund to vote for the two resolutions on the agenda at both companies' AGMs.
An article in this weekend's Observer highlights the steps forward ordinary pension scheme members have made over the past two months. Almost 4,000 people have emailed their funds and around 2,000 have contacted Legal & General, the largest shareholder in both oil companies, asking it to support the resolutions. We should all make a big push before the BP AGM on the 15th of April.
Your money - Your Pension Fund - Your Companies!
Go here http://fairpensions.org.uk/unison/tarsands to register your request for your fund to vote your shares in favour of the resolutions!
The debate has split the councillors who make up the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum as the Observer article points out "shareholders at loggerheads over vote on BP's tar sands development".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/apr/04/bp-investors-row-tar-sands
The Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) has sparked conflict in the normally torpid world of institutional investors by calling on the 52 schemes it advises to vote with BP's management, saying talks with the company suggested its approach to oil sands was "well-grounded". But the Merseyside Pension Fund, which holds the deputy chair position of the LAPFF and is one of the largest in the UK, has decided to abstain, as has the London Borough of Camden Fund. The Environment Agency Pension Fund, also a member of the LAPFF, has said it supports the campaigners and will vote in favour of the resolutions.
Merseyside have reportedly acknowledged that their decision was prompted by the flood of emails from pension scheme contributors, many of whom will be UNISON members brought into the campaign by the union's Capital Stewardship project. At Camden, the UNISON LGPS rep and the branch made direct representations to the investment panel in a successful bid to influence the outcome.
The campaign has the support of Dave Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON. He said, "UNISON's staff pension co-filed these resolutions and now we're getting the word out to our 1.3 million members in Britain's public services, encouraging them to express support to their pension funds and savings institutions. Our members' pension funds have an estimated investment value of £250bn so at UNISON we understand the need for a low carbon economy. We're not convinced that exploitation of tar sands is a responsible choice for the future. These resolutions demand the clear answers from oil companies which our members need and deserve."
