Press Release 99

Date: Sunday 25.2.01

Subject: Friends Provident

Storylines: "Save Our Building Societies"(SOBS) to mount last minute campaign to save Friends Provident

Was SOBS duped into not campaigning (before now) for Friends Provident?

"When money talks, bullshit walks" & "Why didn't the dog bark in the night?"

Save Our Building Societies, the pro-mutual campaign group will now help co-ordinate a last-ditch effort to keep Friends Provident mutual for the benefit of customers, staff and future generations.

Co-ordinator Bob Goodall urgently appeals for members of Friends Provident and mutualists everywhere to contact him to fight to keep the society a mutual. His phone number & e-mail address can be published or broadcast. (Details at end of Press Release).

Has SOBS been duped into doing nothing to date to save the mutuality of Friends Provident? Bob Goodall says "I awoke early Saturday morning with a great sense of unease. It could have been triggered by the Financial World Tonight the night before when I was shocked to hear (in
regard to Lloyds TSB and Abbey National) Trade Union representative Ian Partridge welcoming consolidation within the banking industry which may lead to the loss of 9,000 jobs, as being good for his members! Presenter Adam Kirtley was rightly astonished. But should we be surprised?"
"This broadcast coincided with urgent emails to me about Friends Provident asking whether SOBS intended to fight the demutualisation and warning that the process seemed well underway. And asking why wasn't (the normally robust, determined and pro-active) SOBS doing nything?"

Let me tell you why.

Bob Goodall poses the question: "Has SOBS in fact been duped into not mounting a campaign before to save Friends Provident? He explains:

"Last year a person (claiming to be) an employee & staff representative from Friends Provident contacted me and asked if SOBS was about to fight the demutualisation of the Society. I was then asked to do nothing because "moves were underway to save the Societys mutual status" and "any action on our part might jeopardise negotiations"

Apparently 12 former directors of Friends Provident opposed to demutualisation were operating "behind the scenes" So were the Quakers. Blah, Blah, Blah. I had every reason to believe this was all genuine. Later the story changed to that of a website campaign about to be started. The message was always the same: wait, wait wait.

And I was happy to do so being saddled as I am with £10,000 worth of debts. If another campaign was underway and 'SOBS might upset delicate negotiations if it got involved' I made what now appears to have been a rather foolish decision not to do anything.

You will be aware that no major campaign has been started by former directors or the Quakers. My increasingly urgent emails and phone messages to this Staff Representative have quite simply been ignored. When (another) person contacted me recently asking whether we
would be fighting the demutualisation of Friends Provident my gut reaction I'm sorry to say was to distrust him."

At this late stage SOBS will now engage, albeit with more anger than usual for it would appear that a very clever deception has been perpetrated against us.

Why didn't the dog bark in night? You tell me! SOBS concerns about Staff Associations of converting societies
1) The staff association of Birmingham Midshires refused to support resolutions SOBS proposed including one to protect Midshire jobs. Scandously unenforcable promises made in the Transfer document have been broken and so far 47 branches have been closed and 220 jobs lost.

2) The staff Association of Bradford & Bingley likewise refused to support a SOBS resolution to protect jobs. So far the Call centre at Milverton Hill has closed and 275 jobs have been lost. 90 jobs have been axed at the Bradford & Bingely Mortgage express operation in New Barnet and 70 agencies have been closed.

3) The Mutual Interest campaign (MIC) cannot fight to save Friends Provident because, Yes you guessed it! the staff association of Friends Provident wish the demutualisation of the society to go through. And have stated so quite emphatically. This is despite the fact that jobs are usually lost during or after the demutualisation process.

(Some) Unions: are they The weakest link? Whats going on? Why don't the Unions properly represent their members and start fighting back? They remind me of the 'trained mice' who regularly appear before Ann Robinson on the "weakest link" programme (a real insight into the cowardice endemic in UK society) At a recent meeting with MIC it was therefore agreed that SOBS would have to take the lead in fighting the
demutualisation of Friends Provident. MIC will instead focus its considerable skills, resources and firepower on supporting the mutual building societies under threat this year. (MIC has a really excellent and dedicated team working for it, who have a real passion and commitment to mutuality.)

Notes to the Editor
1) One of the great scandals of our time is the seemingly endless betrayal of workers by some Unions and Staff Associations. But one example: Unifi the financial union issued a laughable statement when Barclays bank sacked several thousand people a few years back, congratulating
the bank on its programme of staff development!

2) Completely separate from the above, the phrase "When money talks, bullshit walks" was made to me by a journalist with an Australian news agency when SOBS were looking into a possible Australian backer in the attempt to demutualise Standard Life.

3) My cynicism about some of the characters involved in the demutualisation process and the central role of money and self-gain was not helped by the serious threat made to me by one society wishing to convert "to financially ruin me". I was too exhausted to fight back at the time or go to
the press as I should have done. Phone calls issuing these threats were made to me lasting up to 2 hours in duration. I should have put the phone down. You may recall that SOBS withdrew very quickly (and unexpectedly) from one campaign it was involved in. That was the reason.

For further details please contact

Bob Goodall co-ordinator
"Save Our Building Societies" campaign
"A thousand strong campaign fighting for mutuality"