The Newsletter of the Chevron UK Pensioners’ Association INISIGHT 1 Date of last supplementation IS S U E 3 3 For Chevron UK pensioners Autumn It was 2015 December 2013 INSIDE THIS ISSUE For Caltex UK Expatriate General p. 1 pensioners it was 1st September 2012 Chairman's letter p.2 & 3 Chevron Market p.4 Music quiz p. 5 Heads vou lose tails we win Can you help? p. 6 Is it just me or does it seem that whether times are good or bad A Manx Adventure at Chevron the outcome for us is just the same? p 1- 9 Here we are fast approaching the second anniversary of our last 2015 AGM notice p.10 supplementation with no prospect of anything in th e ‘pipeline’ It seems a shame that we have to continue to moan, but we Minutes of 2014 AGM know that many competitor oil companies (who must also be p.11 suffering with a downturn in profits) have seen fit to offer their Company news p. 12 retirees an increase. Ed MANCHESTER AGM Please check the This year sees a change of venue for our AGM - we’re heading address label on north to Manchester. In fact to the Lancashire County Cricket the Club, Talbot Rd. Manchester M16 OPX. envelope for The AGM will take place after the Manchester retiree lunch on your current Thursday 5th November at 3.15pm. subscription status We are hopeful that Ashley Sanders Chevron HR will be able to 1) Standing Order join us and answer any questions you may have. 2) Subscription So please make the effort to come to Manchester and join us after due the lunch. MMMM/YYYY=date your annual subscription due. ‘The only end of writing is to enable the readers to better enjoy life, or better to endure it.’ 3) FYI Samuel Johnson 1 LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN - SUMMER 2015 Earlier this year, I was pleased to report that the east of Scotland was having very much better weather than the west! Since then, the weather has given us a hot thundery summer in the south, while the north has seen cold wet windy weather, with even severe gales at times! Sadly, with the schools going back this week, most people don’t feel they have had a summer at all! As everyone will undoubtedly be aware, the crisis with the oil price continues. While cost reductions and job losses across the industry remain the order of the day, there are now I solated signs of a slow recovery. Few people however would hazard a guess as to how long this recovery might take. As I anticipated in the last edition, we attended a meeting with Mr Ashley Sanders and Mr Alex Simmons of Chevron at Westferry Circus in London on 30 April. At that meeting, we raised a number of important issues including pensions supplementation as a definite priority. While inflation has been at a low ebb over the past months, there have recently been signs that the Bank of England will increase interest rates in the near future. Unfortunately low inflation rates have certainly not stopped some of the ancillary costs from rising along the way! At that meeting, we also touched on a number of other pertinent items including of course, the issue of pensions supplementation. However in comparing pensions increases from other companies, it is sometimes rather confusing to differentiate between annual GMP increases - that we all receive letters about every April - and genuine pensions supplementation. But nevertheless, we strongly made the point that it was now some 18 months since our last pensions increase. While we recognise that the Company has little option than use the CPI index as a pensions yardstick, this is in no way indicative of the situation now being faced by many pensioners. On the Temporary/Bridging Pension, Mr Sanders also advised that there will be no movement on this, with this ceasing at age 65, regardless of the starting age for the state pension. We also touched on the cessation of ‘contracting out’ of pensions for those who joined the Company prior to 2012. Ashley Sanders also advised that there are plans to publish a further Pensions Newsletter a little later in the year. We also discussed the current problems being experienced with access to the Chevron Market. While no solution appears to be forthcoming prior to tendering out the contract for this service in September 2015, any such problems will be handled by Alex Simmons of Chevron at Westferry Circus in London, on a one-by-one basis. We also raised the issue of Longstanding Small Pensions once again. There has been no change of policy on this from the Company. However, Mr Sanders advised that it may be possible to ‘cash-in’ these small pensions in the future. He will look into how many pensioners may be affected by this, while the Association agreed to advise pensioners of this possibility. Apparently the ‘cashing-in’ limit for small pensions has recently been increased from £2,000 to £10,000. We understand that anyone who may wish to take advantage of this option can request a quote from the Company, to ‘cash-in’ their small longstanding pension, but without any obligation to do so. Unfortunately however, we further understand that this option does not apply to the over-80’s. The Company will be sending out a letter to the relevant people on this 2 issue in the relatively near future. Mr Sanders did stress however, that anyone ‘cashing in’ their pension, must be aware that they are no longer then considered Chevron pensioners and would no longer be eligible as Welfare Plan members. As you will recall a few months ago, we all voted for new Member Nominated Trustees for the Pension Fund. To date, there have been no results announced - a very sad situation after several months - but we are given to understand that the incumbents, Messrs Jones, Magrill and Poulter, have been returned to office for a further term. Hopefully we will hear something official on this in due course! As I mentioned in my last Letter and as you will have seen from the previous issue of ‘Insight’, it was necessary to increase Association membership rates earlier this year. These have not been increased since 2003 and we simply need to create a little surplus to keep us afloat, as it were. As you may recall, these funds are used to allow committee members to attend two meetings a year, the Association AGM and meetings with the Company from time to time. It is also worth remembering that the Committee members generously give their time to the Association for nothing but expenses. As a consequence, we have had to increase the regular subscription from £7.00 to £10.00 a year and the subscription for the over-80’s from £2.00 to £5.00 per year. It is very easy to change a standing order and we would sincerely ask that you do this the next time you are passing your bank. This really is important, to allow the Association to continue to work for the benefit of all Chevron, Texaco, Unocal and Gulf pensioners. Thank you most sincerely for your continued support. This year, we have decided to hold our AGM in association with the Pensioners Lunch at Old Trafford, in Manchester. As some of you will be aware, our AGM has been held in Croydon for the past few years and we felt it was time to spread our wings a little further afield and meet some members from the North of England. This meeting will be held immediately following the Pensioners Lunch on 5 November. It is also hoped that a Q&A session with Mr Ashley Sanders of Chevron can be arranged in advance of the AGM. Our thanks to John Searle for arranging this. The committee has met in London twice in 2015, developing Association strategy for the forthcoming period. While we lost one Committee member, Ms Cecelia Irvine by resignation earlier in the year, we co-opted a new Committee member Mr Doug Reoch, formerly of Chevron, at our meeting in July. As a consequence, Doug will be standing for election at this year’s AGM. As always I would like to thank all the members of the Committee for their continued support, dedication and valuable work in furthering the interests of both the Association and all Chevron pensioners everywhere. Finally, please do not hesitate to get in touch with the Association if you feel we can help in any way! In the meantime, I will hope to see some members at the AGM after the Manchester lunch and please do remember that we are hoping to have Ashley Sanders attend for a pensions Q&A session as well. At this point, all that remains is for me to wish everyone all the very best for the remainder of the summer and on into the autumn. Let’s hope for another Indian Summer! Alan Higgins 3 Chevron Market update In previous editions of Insight I have highlighted problems that retirees may have when entering their details on the Registration page of Chevron Market. The good news is that the web site has recently been refreshed and now shows clear direction as to where to click for Help should your membership number (which you will see on your annual P60) not be accepted. Rest assured that if you submit an Enquiry, as advised, your registration will be processed shortly after. For those retirees who like me are more than happy to do some of their shopping on-line, Chevron Market www.chevronmarket.com provides some decent discounts on a whole range of goods and services.