The idea of Concert Properties is for union money to pay union wages for building construction projects to make money for union pension plans. Since its inception, Concert Properties, then called the VLC, has been doing that.

Concert Properties was created at a time when pension plans could be involved in building. Shortly after the creation of Concert Properties, tax laws were changed to not allow the creation of any more such companies. Concert has been allowed to continue in that way. For this reason, it is a vehicle much desired to be used by many other pension plans. The Board of Concert Properties has been approached by Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) to allow them to use Concert Properties for building projects in the Ontario area. Concert Properties is presently working with OMERS in a number of building projects in Ontario. There are presently 17 directors on the Board of Concert Properties.

While the TWPP holds 51% of the shares of Concert Properties, there have been only three directors from the TWPP on the Concert Board. There is a set method by which different groups have appointees to the Board whether it be from UFCW or the forestry sector or the building trades. All have different numbers of directors. Due to a number of changes in the make up of the shareholders, the Board has been looking at different apportioning of the directorships. Also a number of the directors have retired from their respective pension boards but continue to serve on Concert Properties Board. All of these issues need to be dealt with. When the newly-comprised Board of the TWPP met in April or May, Mr. Bell requested that Sister Carol Nagy replace Nancy Curley on the Concert Board. TELUS was not willing to allow this to happen since they believed, rightly or wrongly, that since former President of the TWU Mr. Rod Hiebert had been placed as a director on Concert Properties, the Union had three representatives on the Board and the Company only had one. They stated they felt it would be fairer if there was two for each side. Since the inception of Concert Properties, the President and Secretary-Treasurer of the TWU have always been the directors. This was the way it was until the election of Jim Christensen as Secretary-Treasurer. The TWU does not appoint directors to Concert Properties.

The TWPP does appoint directors to Concert Properties. The TWPP agreed to send a letter to Concert Properties requesting the placement of a fourth director amongst the 17 directors on the Board. When a group owns 51% of the shares, it is not out of the ordinary to expect to have at least four directors on that Board. The President of Concert Properties, in conversations with the TWPP trustees, has stated that the changes allowing for a fourth director from the TWPP on Concert was quite agreeable. It appears now that the Executive Board, of which Mr. Bell is a member, is trying to stop this motion. There are concerns about the fact that the Company would have two directors when the Union would only have one director. If the Executive Board would act on this motion of adding a fourth director at the same time as they announced these directors there would always be two directors from the Union and two from the Company on the Concert Board. That would give neither side the ability to push through any issue that might not be acceptable to the membership of the TWPP.

Concert Properties has a tax structure which many other building corporations would love to have. It is not the intent of anyone to want to get rid of Concert Properties. The goal for many other pension plans, including the TELUS management plan, is to become a shareholder in Concert. In a personal conversation with the BC Municipal Employees Pension Plan last month, a remark was made that at any time, when the TWPP would be interested in selling their shares in Concert Properties, they would be more than interested in purchasing them. Jim Christensen, Carol Nagy and Lee Riggs met with the Company trustees, with Bruce Bell as a non-participating witness, to talk about who should be placed as directors on the Concert Board. While it is true that no other jointly-trusteed pension plans have the employer control on the Board of Directors of Concert Properties, a number of management trustees do serve on the Board of Concert. The only group halting the equal representation of two trustees from either side of the TWPP on the Concert Board is the Executive Board of Concert of which Mr. Bell is a member.

The use of the union labour by Concert Properties is a cornerstone to their activities. The directors on the Board understand this as an integral part of Concert’s existence. Concert Properties is much more valuable in its present form that it could ever be if it was sold to other non-pension investors. While Concert Properties is headquartered in Vancouver, its activities go on through the country.

As to the make up of the Concert Properties Board, there are some questions some people need to ask. Why is it that the Executive Board of Concert Properties, of which Mr. Bell is a member, refuses to act on the issue of so many retirees on the Board of Concert Properties? Why is that the Executive Board of Concert Properties, of which Mr. Bell is a member, refuses to allow the TWPP to have four members on the Concert Properties Board when the TWPP has 51% of the shares of Concert Properties?

The directors of Concert Properties are elected every year. The Annual General meeting of Concert Properties was held on March 30th, 2006. The TWPP trustees elected as directors were Bruce Bell, Nancy Curley and Robert Beynon (management TWPP Trustee). This meeting was a number of weeks after the TWU Convention when Ms. Curley was un-elected as a TWPP Trustee. Mr. Bell was fully cognizant of the fact that Ms. Curley was no longer a trustee but apparently took no action to have this appointment changed.

Now, even though a letter has been sent by the TWPP to Ms. Curley requesting that she resign from her position on the Board of Concert Properties, she continues to act as a director (even serving on the Audit Committee) and refuses to resign.

Why is this? What are these people thinking?

Jim Christensen
Secretary-Treasurer
TWPP Trustee

(Webmaster's note: Reference is made to the Local 32 website commentary by Ron Driscoll, President of Local 32)