Newsbrief No 42 30 November 2001
(Please Note, Newsbrief No 41 was Notice of the AGM only)
1. 2001 AGM ,Concorde Centre, 25th October.
The Chairman, George Bell, opened the 11th AGM of the Association by welcoming all those present in a full hall.
Opening his review of the past year he prefaced his report that, in his appointment as APS Representative Beneficiary for Pensioners and deferred Pensioners, he was unable to discuss privileged information and this had made his task particularly difficult.
Last year 's meeting was against the background of the Proposed Merger of APS & NAPS while awaiting the publication of the draft two year valuation from April 1998 to 31March 2000. That AGM passed a Resolution calling on the Trustees to Reject the Merger Proposal.
The Trustees had then met shortly after, and had accepted the Valuation of the Scheme Actuary and his recommendation not to proceed with the Merger on the proposed terms owing to the changed financial positions of APS & NAPS. We were duly delighted with the findings of the Actuary.
The result of the Trustees accepting this recommendation was that the previously reserved High Court date for the Merger hearing was now free for the Court to give guidance to the Trustees on the interpretation of Clause 11 in the Trust Deed.
There had been an excellent attendance by Members during the 4 day hearing and judgement was handed down in Feb 2001. It was that the Trustees could decide whether to use all or any of a surplus certified by the Actuary as disposable.
The Chairman, as the appointed APS Representative for Pensioners & deferred Pensioners, decided to appeal on three points:
a) The Judge's decision that Clause 11 is freestanding.
b) That if the Trustees had "freestanding powers", they were subject to the fetters of Clause 18.
c) That the Trustees must dispose of all the disposable surplus.
The appeal will be heard in 2002.
Meanwhile the £4.87m legal & actuarial costs of the failed Merger Proposal have been borne by APS.
The Chairman also pointed out that although the Judge had given his guidance only in February 2001, by 16th May 2001 the Trustees had approved the Actuary's recommendation that pension augmentation of £3.48m authorised by BA be deducted from the disposable surplus of £150m. by reducing the Employer contribution holiday to 3 years 11 months from the 4years certified by the Actuary at his Valuation. It had been pointed out to the Trustees that, in our opinion, this was at variance with Judge Lloyd's ruling, and this amount should be recovered from BA . The reply from the Trustees is awaited.
ABAP had also asked the Trustees for assurances that where BA had undertaken to pay for employees pension contributions, to encourage them to accept part time working or sabbaticals, that BA would pay the full actuarial cost.
Although we have been assured that payment will be made, we are awaiting details of the monitoring plans to ensure payment is made. Further assurance was sought in view of the fact that there is no disposable surplus that if BA use Clause 24 for any purpose such as augmentations they will reimburse APS with the appropriate amounts in cash. No such confirmation has yet been received. If Clause 24 is used in this way it may have to be challenged in Court or through the Pensions Ombudsman.
After outlining briefly how the drop in equity values had affected the Funds, it was stressed that the main thrust of ABAP at present was to safeguard the security of the pension funds through a more secure investment policy rather than press for pension improvements. In addition to ensure that the Employer was not permitted to create future liabilities for APS.
The current equities based investment strategy of APS had been for the benefit of BA, since Pensioners have been granted no improvements. Our Actuary has calculated that since 1989 BA has benefited by £997m. The Chairman's Report was accepted.
Treasurer's Report.
In the absence of the Treasurer, who was in hospital, the previously circulated Treasurer's report was moved, seconded, and accepted. A question on subscription level in the difference between this year and last year was explained in that there had been no call for further subscriptions to the Fighting Fund.
Other Resolutions:
1. The reappointment of the Committee.
2. The unchanged Annual Subscriptions.
3. The Report & Subscription to COPAS
Were all approved without dissent.
Pensioner Trustees' Report.
Captain Mike Post thanked ABAP for their support. He explained that Mr Tomlin could not attend but sent his regards. He reported that the Trustees are considering changing their investment strategy and revising the Statement of Investment Principles. He will continue to press for change in the Trustee Board arrangements so that APS & NAPS Trustee Boards are each composed only of Trustees from just one scheme( ie there shall be no dual trusteeship appointments) Further, that the elected trustees of each Board shall be elected only from the Members and Pensioners of their own scheme.
ABAP Website www.abap.org.uk
Newsbriefs are available on site, and e-mails may be sent to ABAP. Members on the net are asked to use it to encourage more Pensioners, and future Pensioners, to join us. There will be an Application Form on site as from Newsbrief No 42.
Captain R. C. Alabaster. ( ABAP Committee Member.) Cliff Alabaster asked to be permitted to make a statement on the forthcoming 50th Anniversary of the first Comet Commercial Flight in May 2002. His statement, given in full later in this Newsbrief, was greeted with spontaneous and sustained applause. Although regret was expressed that relations between BA and the Pensioners had reached such a stage.
Captain D. R. Mauleverer. The Committee reported that David Mauleverer has been appointed a High Sheriff of the City of London. This is a signal honour for him in particular, and additional recognition of civil aviation in general within the realms of the City.
Pension Increases 1974 to 1979. Jack Marks appealed to Members who were Pensioners during this period to search their records for any written information from BA Pensions regarding the increases applied to pensions in the years 1974 to 1979. Please forward anything of significance to ABAP for onward forwarding to Jack. He is trying to establish whether the increases were based on RPI or on the average of the wages index increases.
In open session there was the usual lively discussion on various aspects of the Merger and other pension matters.
Finally the Meeting gave a vote of thanks to George Bell and Frances his wife. A Member then presented a bouquet of flowers for her on our behalf. The Meeting closed at 4 p.m.
2. Government Pension Consultation.
HM Government has set up a committee to review private (i.e. company) pension provision. If Members would like to contribute, ABAP suggest you write to the consultation team at the address below.
Explain that you are a BA Pensioner, and that you are unhappy with the recent history of APS & NAPS.
You are also unhappy with the way the Trustees are common to both schemes, and that the employee-elected Trustees of the schemes are elected undemocratically by an electorate in which NAPS members outnumber APS members by 10 : 1 .
You are unhappy as well with the way BA achieved this undemocratic Trustee arrangement in 1997.
You may also be unhappy with the BA suppression of dissent by Invoking the Data Protection regulations; preventing objectors from making their case against the BA Trustee proposals in 1997, and the failed schemes Merger proposal in all its aspects.
Not least with the BA proposal finally being paid for by APS.
The address for your letters, by 31 January 2002 or earlier please, is : (For greater impact it is important to send a copy to your MP)
The Pensions Simplification Consultation Team.
Dept. for Work & Pensions.
Room 329.
The Adelphi.
1 -11 John Adam Street.
LONDON WC2N 6HT.
Or e-mail : consultation-team@dwi.gsi.gov.uk
3. 50th Anniversary of First Comet Commercial Flight.
The story behind the planned celebration and the consequences as told by Cliff Alabaster.
All Members of ABAP are aware that he has had a long and distinguished flying career in BOAC and British South American Airways.
What may not be so well known is that he joined the RAFVR before the outbreak of WW2 , and showed practical resource from the start. Once qualified he flew in Bomber Command on 4 tours of Operations over Germany and other parts of Europe initially as a navigator then as a captain; being awarded the DSO and DFC. Later as a pilot on Lancasters and a squadron commander on Mosquitos he was awarded a bar to both DSO and DFC. By the end of the War he had flown over 100 operations against the enemy, following his personal creed of never asking those under his command to do anything he was not prepared to do himself. Quite apart from the amazing bravery this represents to those of us today who have never had to go into action( thanks to him and his ilk), his is a saga of incredible luck underlined by the thorough methodical technical competence he still carries with him.
Given below is his address to the AGM .
"In an issue of Touchdown to be landing on your doormats shortly will come the Christmas greeting from Lord Marshall, telling us how grateful he and his Board are to the Pensioners for the valuable contribution we made in laying the foundations of British Airways.
As a measure of his true gratitude, we need to look back to 1989. At that time, to buy off a pay rise to employees, Lord King and (then) Colin Marshall inspired the Trustees to use our pension funds (APS & NAPS) to award those employees an 8% increase in pension rights. They decided to offer nothing to the Pensioners.
Many Pensioners had been contributing to their pension funds for years. This disregard of them rankled. Hence the birth of ABAP.
In the earlier days of BEA & BOAC there was a cordial relationship between the staffs and their respective managements, especially in the case of BOAC, with Sir Miles Thomas and Whitney Straight. That relationship was never firmer than in 1951-52, during the development and proving flights of the Comet 1, leading up to the world's first commercial jet service in May 1952. Many of those ground staff and flying staff are still alive today.
Next year sees the 50th anniversary of that first flight, an occasion of which BA management were not aware or interested, until they heard of plans for a celebration of the occasion at the RAF Museum, Cosford.
Seeing the opportunity for publicity, BA then joined in enthusiastically, and are now taking a large part in the occasion. In addition to that celebration, Channel 4 TV are producing a documentary of those early days, for screening in May, which will give BA a window for more publicity."
"Having flown the southern half of that first commercial flight, I have been asked to participate in both those productions.
But in view of the attitude of Lord Marshall and the Board of BA, I have refused to have anything to do with the celebration at Cosford or the making of the Channel 4 documentary.
I am making this stand on behalf of my fellow pensioners, and hope my colleagues from those momentous years will respect my reasons for not taking part in those events. A discreet and modest reunion of all those connected with the Comet 1 is being organised, probably for the last time, by Alan Johnson, when we will recall those years and remember those who died in the establishment of BOAC's lead into jet travel."
4. Membership Notes. Membership Secretary, Mary Hegarty asks that all subscription cheques should be made out to: "The Association of British Airways Pensioners."
If Members have a change in circumstances, or change of address, please let Mary know direct. Please be advised that any changes you may send in to BA Pensions cannot be passed on to ABAP.
Finally, with this Newsbrief is a new ABAP Membership application form for you to put into a friend's Christmas stocking. Don't panic, it's for New Members Only. The ABAP Membership application form is also on the ABAP website at www.abap.org.uk on permanent display.
A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You All.
The Committee of ABAP 30 November 2001