CARILLION’S GAZILLIONS! (weekly poem)

CARILLION’S GAZILLIONS!

“Same old story, same old greed. Directors too busy stuffing their

mouths with gold to show any concern for their workforce or their

pensioners”. Frank Field – Commons Select Committee chairman.

Directors work so very hard,

Much harder than the rest of us;

Our laziness means we are barred

From luxuries that are a 'plus'.

Just twenty-four hours in the day,

How is it they achieve so much?

Who needs a workforce some would say,

When they're a striking pain as such.

Consider when they're not at work,

Just how much real wealth is produced;

And when at work they only shirk,

That's why their pay has been reduced.

So when strikes close a company down,

It makes more profit than before;

As the Directors merely frown,

And then by magic make much more! (1)

Then their remuneration boards,

(With each of them in a key post)

Vote to increase their unearned hoards,

So they can boast they earn the most.

That's how they pay themselves so well,

Who else could con us like they do;

The whole sting has a nasty smell,

But still we look up to “the few”.

Who kid us that we’re just a bind,

And surplus to the bosses needs;

They only pay us to be kind,

It's just for us that their heart bleeds!

So when they give themselves more shares,

And bonuses of extra pay;

It's right that they they are millionaires,

And self-awards are quite okay.

So plebs don't get hung up about,

Such rising inequality;

You've still a fraction more than nowt,

In thanks for your complicity.

(1) During a period where executive pay leapt

by 300%, production increased by a mere 27%.

© Richard Layton