Well, then best someone tells the wealthiest in the UK then because whilst your local hospital/school/factory/day centre/old people's home/post office/life gets cut back and closed down, have some sympathy for the rest of those allegedly in the 'same boat' as us..........according to the Independent:-
"
The pay of Britain's top company bosses has soared still higher,
rising by more than five times that of ordinary workers, who have seen a
decline in wages in real terms. The total pay package for the typical FTSE 100 chief executive hit
£3m for the first time in 2011 – an average rise of 8.5 per cent –
despite it being a brutal year for investors. The average pay rise
for workers nationally was 1.6 per cent, less than half the pace of
inflation, placing pressure on household disposable incomes and
endangering growth prospects. The Chancellor, George Osborne, faces
calls from businesses and the City to draw up a new growth plan when he
returns from his summer holiday, and to reverse the Government's hard
line on deficit reduction.
To add to investors' grievances, the
FTSE 100 fell 6.5 per cent during 2011, leaving them considerably worse
off than chief executives. The new research will add to the anger at
boardroom pay that exploded earlier this year in the "shareholder
spring" – the most febrile season of company AGMs in memory, with
investors heckling directors and voting down their bonus packages. The
scalps of three unloved bosses were claimed: at Britain's largest
insurance company, Aviva, the drugs giant AstraZeneca and the publisher
Trinity Mirror. Other firms to feel the heat included Barclays (the
board was told it was "a disgrace to capitalism"), the advertising giant
WPP, car dealer Pendragon, the miners Xstrata and Central Rand Gold,
the oil explorer Cairn Energy, M&S, Premier Food and the hedge fund
Man Group.
The escalating anger over boardroom pay prompted the
Business Secretary Vince Cable to announce that the Government will
legislate to give shareholders binding votes on block executive pay
rises. Executive pay did not rise as fast last year as it did in
2010 – when the rise was reported at 23 per cent in the equivalent
research by Income Data Services – primarily because some chief
executives saw their bonuses frozen or canned. The researchers
attributed this to companies beginning to realise that their pay rises
would not be stomached.
Annual bonuses actually fell 2 per cent in
2011 to an average of £669,00 across all FTSE executive directors. The
fall can be attributed in part to bankers such as Barclays' Bob Diamond
and Stephen Hester of RBS who were encouraged to give up their bonuses.
The largest pay rises included substantial share awards to Phil Cox at
International Power and the former boss of the chemicals giant Croda,
Mike Humphrey.
Deborah Hargreaves, chair of the High Pay Centre,
said: "This still means executive pay is rising faster than average
wages. It's important to keep up the pressure to ensure that, at a time
of severe austerity, bosses realise multimillion-pound pay awards are
unsustainable." Steve Tatton, editor of the IDS report, said:
"Remuneration committee members have now realised that their decisions
will be scrutinised very closely. Shareholders are demanding to know
what they are paying for." Union bosses railed against pay rises
that they were said were disproportionate to performance.
The Unite
general secretary Len McCluskey said: "Executive pay is still
outstripping the pay of ordinary workers who are struggling to keep up
with rising prices. There is still massive inequality between workers
and their bosses. Pay cuts and freezes for hard-working families are
pushing many working people into the clutches of payday lenders." The
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber added: "FTSE directors are still
getting pay rises that the rest of their staff could only dream about.
The gap between the very top and everyone else was a key cause of the
recession, but no one seems prepared to tackle it." "
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Ignoring the fact that the general secretaries of most unions and the TUC are earning nigh on what many company bosses are earning (the irony is not missed here lads...), the fact remains that depsite the Sun and the rest of the capitalist press assertions that we are in this together, it is patently clear we are not. WAKE UP fellow workers and see the truth - capitalism is screwing you over, time to look for something else!
SussexSocialist
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