Peter Lazenby
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FAT-CAT bosses have pocketed an average £3.6 million in annual salary and bonuses despite Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey calling on workers to show restraint in wage claims.
A report by international accountancy firm Deloitte revealed today that the pay packages of the chief executives of Britain’s top 100 companies climbed back to their pre-pandemic level by the end of the last financial year after falling to £2.8 million during the coronavirus crisis.
Mr Bailey — annual salary £575,000 — has urged workers to “think and reflect” before asking for a pay rise at a time of rising inflation, which now stands at more than 9 per cent and is predicted to rise above 10 per cent in the near future.
Earlier this month Mr Bailey told the Commons Treasury select committee: “I do think people, particularly people who are on higher earnings, should think and reflect on asking for high wage increases.”
But the Deloitte report on chief executives’ income failed to provoke a response from the Bank of England.
The Unite union lambasted the bank’s governor today for failing to speak out.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “CEOs are pocketing around £3.6 million in pay while others face the appalling choice of whether they can heat or eat, and the Bank of England says nothing.
“Yet when workers earning a fraction of that want to protect the value of their wages, the governor slaps them down.
“Where is the call for restraint on multimillion-pound pay packets and profiteering on the back of inflation?
“Workers did not cause this crisis — we will not accept any further lectures on pay restraint from rich men on massive salaries.”
Unite is leading a campaign for better pay and is supporting strikes by its members nationwide, including at privateer bus companies.
“Unite is on a mission to make work pay in this country,” said Ms Graham. “We are very clear that where employers can afford to raise pay, then we will demand and win a rise for our members.”
Deloitte also reported that the ratio of chief executives’ pay to that of ordinary workers is now 81:1.
The Bank of England declined to comment.
