Union finances

The August 2010 issue of Labour Research included a story on union finances as recorded in the annual report of the certification officer.

While the figures are accurate, they can often present a confusing picture because they can include exceptional items, for example, revaluation of pension fund assets and liabilities. These can be very large and vary greatly from year to year, leading to large swings in a union’s apparent surplus or deficit.

So, for example, in the case of the GMB general union, the figures given in the latest report include a £22 million actuarial “loss” to its pension fund, which creates an income/expenditure “deficit” for the year. Excluding this exceptional item and presenting only normal income/expenditure, the union made an operating surplus of almost £5 million.