Bonum Certa Men Certa

Sirius 'Open Source' Pensiongate: An Introduction

Techrights: Wednesday, Feb 8, 2023: Sirius 'Open Source' Pensiongate: An Introduction



Summary: The Sirius 'Open Source' series continues in the form of a mini-series about pensions; it's part of an ongoing investigation of a deep mystery that impacts people who left the company quite a long time ago and some of the lessons herein are applicable to any worker with a pension (at times of financial uncertainties)

IT has been about a week since we ended the series about my former employer and opportunistic CEO, who carried the term "Open Source" in vain (there's a relatively short summary of the other issues). My wife resigned at the same time as me and she too has been attempting to understand what happened to the pensions.



Yes, pensions (plural).

"My wife resigned at the same time as me and she too has been attempting to understand what happened to the pensions."Back in 2016 the pensions were changed and the old one seemingly evaporated. Former staff (that had left the company already) wondered what happened. These things could not be tracked down and there were obstacles impeding those desperate to find out. The Pension Tracker and Regulator were of no use, either. The government isn't helping.

In the upcoming Sirius (pensiongate) articles we're going to look at what happens when British workers suddenly discover that a pension simply vanished, even if the paperwork with all the references and the names is still fully intact. Even large pension providers are implicated in this, and it is unclear if they facilitate so-called 'liberation' schemes that let people plunder other people's money. I wrote about this last month in my personal blog, but this series looks at it from another angle.

"In the upcoming Sirius (pensiongate) articles we're going to look at what happens when British workers suddenly discover that a pension simply vanished, even if the paperwork with all the references and the names is still fully intact."Generally speaking, what good are pensions when pension providers can certainly collapse or if the company offering a pension to staff collapses (and steals everyone's money in the process)? How is that financial security? Seems more like a Ponzi scheme with a clock set to detonate everything a decade or more later. The so-called "financial industry" is not an industry and economics isn't a science but a religion.

"Stock market pensions force us to give money to billionaires or else we don't get pensions," to quote someone from IRC (last night). "That's the point."

My best friend warned me about this over a decade ago. Are pensions any safer than bank accounts? And what will large technology companies do after economic downturns? Zoom is the latest to lay off loads of workers.

"We already consider suing the company, which is effectively in hiding, but if it files for bankruptcy in the process, then only the lawyers will win."In the case of Sirius, existing and past staff aren't fully aware of what's happening. After about 3 hours waiting and speaking over the telephone (at great expense to myself) I think I'm ready to establish and report some uncomfortable facts. Colleagues might want to know and deserve to know what's really happening. Some might to take what's left in the pension, even with 55% tax, before the company once again plunders people's pensions, as it apparently did before. I spoke to both pension providers and it's rather revealing. They too would find it illuminating.

We already consider suing the company, which is effectively in hiding, but if it files for bankruptcy in the process, then only the lawyers will win. If we pass this on to other former staff, which is impacted and may help organise class action, it's the same problem. The company Sirius already operates through several tiny shells in several countries. It's most likely about evading liabilities (business and personal).

In the next part we shall take a look at some of the substance and highlight how this establishes a pattern of deceit and backstabbing.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Nat Friedman Had Left Microsoft GitHub Exactly One Week Before Matthew Garrett Sent His First SLAPP (Which Was an Empty Threat, He Was Abusing the Legal System of Another Continent to Terrorise Critics Who Had Just Unearthed Major Microsoft Scandals)
And it was likely talked about by his lawyers around the exact same time Nat Friedman was packing up
 
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, June 05, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, June 05, 2025
Pushing Microsoft's Proprietary Trash/Trap as "Open" and "Linux" (Windows is 'Linux' Now?)
Maybe it's time to just stop saying "FOSS". The people who use that term are promoting Microsoft.
Slopwatch: Comparing Linux to Vermin, Attacking BSD With LLM Slop, and Helping Microsoft Demonise Linux/OpenBSD/SSH Over Weak User Passwords
Microsoft must be laughing its arse off, seeing how a bunch of Serial Sloppers (no skills, no comprehension, no integrity, no creativity) and slopfarms use Microsoft LLM to flood the Web with anti-Linux FUD
Links 05/06/2025: US Poised for Another $2.4 Trillion to Debt, Cops Want GAFAM Kill Switches
Links for the day
Links 05/06/2025: First US Spacewalk 60 Years Ago, GNU Octave 10.2.0 is Out
Links for the day
Scandinavia Saying Goodbye to Microsoft
The Danes have had enough of Microsoft
GNU/Linux Measured at 6% in Bangladesh, According to statCounter
Windows isn't growing, it's going away
Gemini Links 05/06/2025: Loop Earplugs Review and ANS Forth
Links for the day
Armenian Adoption of GNU/Linux
Russian influence in Armenian must be worrying to Microsoft
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part II: Turning a Once-Respected Patent Office Into a Circus and Laughing Stock
It's not legal, but administrators who don't care about the law and don't fear the law would just go ahead and turn things to junk
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, June 04, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, June 04, 2025
Slopwatch: Mindless Slop Pieces, Fake Images and Text, Linux FUD on the Cheap
spewed out by Microsoft-controlled LLMs
Links 04/06/2025: Workers' Strikes, Sudan Exodus
Links for the day
Links 04/06/2025: Linux Foundation PR Spam and Lee Jae-myung Wins Election
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/06/2025: Future Leaders of the World and Platforming Jordan Peterson
Links for the day
Links 04/06/2025: WSL Backfiring on Microsoft and "Disney, Microsoft Announce Massive Layoffs"
Links for the day
Our Case is a Very Easy Win, the SLAPPs From Microsofters Were a Grave Error, and Censoring Information Won't Work (It'll Only Ever Backfire)
Censoring is what people do when they lose the argument
Say the Truth, the Rest Will Follow
There's no guarantee that writing the truth will result in an audience (or readership), but over time - in the long run - people generally gravitate towards what they know or feel to be crude truth, not just what's comforting (albeit false or self-deluding, usually groupthink dictated from above)
How to Expose High-Level Corruption Without Getting in (Too Much) Trouble
Democracy depends on free press and freedom of the press depends on being able to safely publish (and keep available) material that bad people don't want to be known to anybody
In-Depth EPO Coverage at Techrights Turns Eleven
11 years is a very long time
Windows Measured Below 10% in Afghanistan, GNU/Linux Gaining a Lot
about 80% are Android (Linux) users, compared to only about 10% for Windows
Poland's Political Predicament and Social Control Media
Democracy and fake "tech" don't mix well; the latter tends to interfere with the former and that's why we get more "Putins" out there
EPO: Taking Away From the Staff to Give More to the Rich
The Central Staff Committee (CSC) wrote to EPO staff earlier this week
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 03, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 03, 2025
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part I: It's a Lot Like the EPO
we can commence a series soon
Gemini Links 04/06/2025: Inescapable Questions and Quitting All "Oligarch Tech"
Links for the day