The Elections

Pension Consultation Members. (You will need to look through what the link goes to for individuals.)

These links go to what looks like a place you can vote but the links are only for viewing.

Bob Buxton advises us that the following are withdrawing from the election. If you voted for them only, your early voting has lost you your vote. If you voted for others as well, the voting for the others still stands.

So far, 24/7/09, AMIPP has only heard about the union membership of eight candidates. Helen Jones, RoseMary Townsend, Mark Huggett, Phil Boucher, Stuart Dalgleish, John Perry, and Graham Carter are members of Unite, Hayter is not.

Here is a statement from the C-Plan candidates, 24/07/09. Note that Robert Tickell handles internal communications. Those who contact him may get on his distribution list. (It is not necessary to join his list if you are in the Yahoo Group "Pensions2009" - you will get the communications that way.)

To all C Plan voters,
Rest assured that all of the C Plan PCC Nominees are working as a team. They are already having daily meetings and have started the process of identifying and setting up working sub committees to collate and address the separate issues. They are all committed to continue to support whichever 3 get elected, throughout the consultation period.

Whilst each of them may fall in to a sub-constituency of C planners , over 50's able to retire, over 50's unable to afford to retire, under 50's and so on, the elected reps are there to address all of the issues and not just favour their own personal constituency.

The primary task of determining the key workstreams and assigning leaders to those teams has been concluded and these are listed below.
At this stage please do not bombard the Stream leads with questions and only contact them if you have expertise or new & useful information for that stream. The Stream leads will be asking for expertise and help so you will get an opportunity to be more engaged shortly.

Legal Stream : Bob Buxton
Negotiating Stream : Graham Sumner
Pension Mechanics Stream : Stuart Dalgleish
Interlocking with non-C Planners Stream : Fiona H Humphries
Over 50's Stream : Bob Carter
Under 50's Stream : Steve J Edwards
Internal Communications Stream : Robert Tickell
Misselling' in 2006 and 3% ERDF : Valory Batchelor
PCC Strategy/Planning/Presentation Stream : Steve Bowden
Third Party Involvement Stream : Various

Additional Candidate Information

Firstly some of you may already be aware that a number of the nominees have made the decision to step down as candidates and these are listed below. As already stated, they will continue to be fully engaged in the extended PCC team and work behind the scenes to support our aims.
Bob Buxton
Larry Smith
Toni Martin
David Crowther
Dominic Cole
Steve J Edwards

A number of C-Planners have stated that they would like to know more about the candidates and their ability to represent them so, over the next few days, the candidates have the opportunity to provide additional relevant information which will be shared with the voters.
Here are the first few.

Steve Bowden
Having been in IBM for over 21 years, I've had a variety of roles, always customer facing, including System engineer, Salesman, Team and sales Program Leader and for the last 6 years a Sales Manager. Many will know my from my recent activity to work with the leaders from all IBM businesses to drive IBM's green agenda. I most definitely fit into the under 50's group, and feel passionate about the proposed implications to those of us effectively left without a choice, and a financial lifeplan shattered. For those people aged 50 plus, forced to leave before the ERDF changes , or those of us under 50, with absolutely no choice at all, I feel we need to represent all to meet everyone's needs. As anyone who knows me , will say I have a team spirit, and my team have said that they have confidence that I will represent their best interests. This is not the time for us to have individual agendas, this is a time for us to work together.
At the announcement of these changes, I felt there had been a basic breach of trust between employees and the company, those of us that remember 2006 well, will know the basis of the information we took our decision on, we'll know the commitment we felt that had been made to us by the company and in turn I know the commitment each of us has made back many times over.
I put myself forward for a number of reasons
- I felt we'd crossed a line, that broke the basic trust, the covenants of trust between us and IBM. I felt that this proposal was fundamentally wrong in targeting the impact at a few loyal people. Achieving a corporate financial objective is not the same as driving a skilled, motivated successful company.
- We have some great candidates, but we have to channel our resources effectively. Emotions are running high , rightly so, but we need to talk to the corporation in terms they will understand, my background allows me to do that. That's why I'm leading one of the workstreams we're running to focus our efforts effectively.
- We need legal, and pensions skills which I freely admit I do not have, but we also need skills to build the counter proposals, manage the resources we have to support our case, drive the skill we have to our objectives, and present our case. Also we need to negotiate. I've negotiated their targets with many of these VP's over the last few years. I've sat across the table from them before, so although the circumstances are different and the stakes are higher, I've been there.

Bob Carter
I am 52 and have been with IBM 30 years. I have been planning my retirement for either April 2010 or 2012 , as I am caught by the government pensions blackout. I have worked in Manufacturing, Marketing, Services, Software Development in technical, project management and line management roles. In my current role I act as the finance controls, planning and operations manager for the Java Technology Center in Hursley. This involves significant work with World Wide finance and legal teams. I have experience of , but would not claim expertise in , bid response , legal contract and negotiation and vendor control. I recognise that I can not work on the PCC in isolation. I am extremely pleased that all of the candidates are working hard to support each other and if elected I will do my best to represent all sub-constituencies equally.

Stuart Dalgleish
I am 46 years old, having joined IBM in Oct 1988 as a Test Engineer, based in Greenock. In 1989 I moved to development as a monitor software eng, then lead eng, network team lead then Server Development Test Manager. In 2000, on closure of development, I became manager of a new xSeries pre-sales Advanced Technical Support Team. In 2002 I became a New Products manager, then in 2004 NBMC post sales Special Projects manager (to date). I am extremely numerate and analytical, highly organised, with an acute eye for detail. I have a personal interest in athletics, gardening and financial matters, including pensions. I was asked by may people in Greenock to stand as a PCC candidate. I would relish the opportunity to represent C Plan members on the PCC. I am not overwhelmed by the probable workload ( I am very energetic on topics of interest & importance) or level of detailed knowledge required (I am a fast learner). I am not a shrinking violet, but know when to remain passive. I am a recent member of UNITE.
p.s I am interested in the plight of ALL defined Benefit members.
I recently held an impromptu meeting in Greenock on this subject which was attended by 137 employees with just 24 hours notice word of mouth.
I hope I can count on your support, but will work to support the PCC if not personally successful

John Perry
IBM UK has continued to degrade the DB pension schemes. IBM UK used a DB/DC contribution holiday to use up the C Plan surplus. If IBM UK had continued with contributions we would not be in this mess.
Trust and Responsibility is an IBM Value. In 2006, Larry Hirst confirmed the DB schemes would be protected until 2014 with an IBM Corporation guarantee. If the current CEO can rescind this commitment, how can we be sure that other commitments by UK Management will be honoured?
I believe that we are unlikely to be able to change these proposals through legal challenge because IBM UK will have used good external lawyers and would have had plenty of time to ensure their proposals are watertight and they would have considered potential challenges. However, if anyone in IBM UK knows or has contact with QCs who could help our cause, please let me or the final PCC team know.
If elected, I would help identify to UK management the flaws in their proposals as the proposals will damage the UK company by forcing out skilled and experienced workers while at the same time destroying trust in IBM UK senior management. We need to convince our CEO that significant changes must be made to the proposals.
Whether or not I am elected:
I encourage all IBM UK employees to consider joining the Unite Union; I joined nearly three years ago when I did not need the Union; whether you are a C, N, I or M planner please consider not just today but what further benefit reductions will be forced on us in the future.
I will support the PCC team to the best of my abilities with my pensions knowledge and previous Corporate Audit skills.
What is particularly unfair is that C planners retiring now could do so with a 15% penalty but under the new proposals the penalty would be 56%. This is because IBM wants to change the Early Retirement Discount Factor from 3% to 7% and from aged 60 to 63. The 3% ERDF is specified in the 1991 C Plan Trust Deeds.
We must convince IBM UK that their proposals are short term and bad for the IBM company. We have seen AMEX suspend pension contributions to AMEX UK employee stakeholder pensions for 18months. M planners could be next with company contributions slashed or stopped; we all need to Unite to stop further erosion of our benefits from a company that is highly profitable.
Let us all try and keep IBM a great company to work for.

I joined IBM in 1986 as a Trainee Systems Engineer straight from University, where I earned a PhD in Psychology. I'm married, in my 40's, with 2 children still at school (both boys) and four large dogs. These days I mainly work from home when I'm not travelling, as I work extensively with all three geographies (US, AP and EMEA) so my working hours can be rather erratic. I've never joined a union, I thought it was enough to work for a company I liked, respected and trusted. Recent events have certainly made me think carefully about that decision.

In my time with IBM I have performed a wide range of senior technical and business roles, including EMEA Business Operations, EMEA Data Centre Management, NE IOT Resource Management. In short, I'm a typical IBM 'jack of all trades' in terms of expertise and experience. I won't claim to have more than a normal level of legal or pensions knowledge, however, I am very experienced at quickly taking on board new skills sets, and I believe that whoever is elected to the PCC should - and must - rely on real, qualified experts in those fields. IBM has obviously engaged very experienced legal and pensions advisors in putting this proposal together, we will not succeed as a community if we attempt to respond with anything less. I am well used to working with and negotiating with senior executives and I would describe my preferred style as calm, business-like and persistent, rather than confrontational. I believe in being well-prepared for any meeting I attend, which includes understanding the position, motivation and objectives of all the people round the table. I think that approach will be even more important at the PCC meetings, with so much at stake for so many people.

With respect to what I hope to achieve if I am elected to the PCC, my short answer would be everything I possibly can. My personal ideal would be that IBM withdraws its proposal in its entirety with immediate effect. I suspect that objective may be difficult to achieve. However I don't give up on something just because it's difficult, and I don't intend to enter the consultation prepared to fail or to compromise. That will be my starting point. If the consultation continues, I will expect and demand full disclosure from IBM on every aspect of this proposal - particularly what business extremes has driven IBM to take this decision and what it intends to do with the balance of funds it 'acquires' from this action. I will expect IBM to fund independent financial, legal and pensions advice and support for PCC the duration for the consultation and dependant on the outcome, possibly beyond. I will expect IBM to provide sufficient administrative and technical support to the PCC to enable them to address all questions from the IBM community in a timely fashion and to support the PCC in establishing an effective escalation route for urgent or unresolved issues.

In conclusion, I have to say, that the only high spot for me in IBM since the pension announcement, is the collaboration and support of all my IBM colleagues. I have not spoken to a single person - regardless of whether they potentially benefit from the proposed scheme - who don't overwhelming support the cause of their colleagues who will be adversely affected by IBM's actions.

I joined Amicus (which is now part of Unite) in 2002 when moves were taken to outsource Boots to IBM. I became an employee representative and during this time found the Union to be a great support especially with their expert help.

After the outsourcing to IBM I stayed on and became a Union Representative and attended several of their trainings on how to negotiate, employee law.

I've tried to help colleagues ever since then, especially during the round of compulsory and non-compulsory redundancies where at times the rules were not being followed.

I regularly attend 6 monthly meetings where representatives from the other major IT organisations discuss current problems including pension issues, work going to India, etc.

It has always been a great source of regret for me that so few people within IBM are unionised. I would not now resign as a Union member. I've watched as reps from companies like Fujitsu, Xansa (now been taken over),Barclays and others have been able to influence their companies proposals. Both Fujitsu and Barclays have put forward similar proposals to IBM and seen how much Unite are helping them.

I'm very close to retirement age so appreciate how much a pension means. I've watched my husband's private pension decrease rapidly in value.

For the above reasons I've put myself forward as a candidate.