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Half the population are bullied ... most only recognize it when they read this

Fat Cats

Concerned about the obscene salaries of some top bosses?

The minimum wage in the UK is Ł3.50 an hour. If you're old enough to vote but under 22, your minimum wage is set legally at Ł3 an hour. It's unfortunate that mortgages for under-22's don't cost 13% less, neither do food bills, energy bills, or any other bills.

Chief executive officers (CEOs) in the UK are paid the second-highest salaries in the world after America
Over the last 10 years salaries of top bosses in the UK rose 288% whilst those of workers rose just 45% [More]
UK accountants are the highest paid in the world
For running SmithKline Beecham, Jan Leschly was paid Ł93 million
Former CEO of EMI, Jim Fifield received a Ł12.4 million pay-off despite disastrous performance
In 1999, David Varney, chairman of North Sea gas supplier BG, enjoyed a 10% salary increase whilst employees received 1.5%. MSF members voted 96% in favour of industrial action.
John Edmonds, TUC President at Congress 1999 was quoted as saying that all fat cats were "greedy bastards"
Redundancy rates in the UK are around around the lowest in the developed world at around 23% of fixed salary
Applications to employment tribunal in the UK now exceed 100,000 a year, one of the highest rates in Europe
Employees in UK manufacturing are the second lowest paid in the developed world
In 1998/9 in the UK, directors' pay increased by around 26% in 1998/9, productivity improved by around 6%, and average pay for employees increased by 2.9%

On a local note

Oxfordshire County Council increased council tax rates by 12% in April 1999 when the "official" rate of inflation is under 3%
In 1999 the chief executive of Oxford City Council awarded himself a pay rise of 16%

Thanks to the UK's MSF union for some of these figures.

February 2005: NHS bosses pay skyrockets 70% in a decade. "Managing an NHS Trust is a big job and the NHS needs to be able to compete with the much bigger pay and perks on offer in the private sector, in order to get the best person for the job" says an acolyte: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4269731.stm

March 2004: Oxfordshire County Council chief executive nets pay rise almost six times the rate of inflation whilst putting up council taxes by three times the rate of inflation and imposing on staff a zero percent pay freeze and in some cases a pay cut.

October 2003: Fat cats get ever fatter with 288% pay rise: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3179550.stm

May 2003: TUC turns attention to fat cat pay at HSBC bank; William Aldinger stands to make millions, and receive free dental and medical treatment for life: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2934176.stm

May 2003: Shareholders revolt against GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) chief executive Jean-Pierre Garnier and his Ł23 million reward for failure: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3038381.stm

April 2003: "We're not against fat cat pay" says National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2985075.stm

April 2003: Investors get tough on fat cat pay for underperforming chief executives: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2979781.stm

April 2003: UK Government plans crackdown on fat cat bosses: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2979827.stm

August 2002: Fat cats go on getting fatter: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2194811.stm

May 2002: In the Enron scandal, top Enron Corporation workers reaped (or should that be raped?) $744 million in payments and stock in the year leading up to its bankruptcy filing. [More]

There's no objection to people earning large sums of money, provided the amounts are deserved, and all employees enjoy the benefits of profitability and prosperity. These include security of employment, good working conditions, working hours limited by contract and the European Working Time Directive. All too often the obscene salaries (plus perks, bonuses, commissions, pension payments, golden handshakes, share options etc) are obtained by the morally unacceptable tactics of making employees redundant, with pay rises less than inflation, a refusal to invest, siphoning of financial reserves instead of investing, etc, all of which ultimately translate to redundancies.

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