Fat Cat Thursday: Jeremy Corbyn and unions slam excessive CEO pay

Bosses of top UK companies will have earned more money by lunchtime today than the average UK worker does in the entire year, according to research by the High Pay Centre.

The CEOs of FTSE 100 companies receive an average wage of £3.45m a year, which works out at 120 times the £28,758 that an average full-time UK worker makes in a year.

In the space of three days, these chief executives will have earned more than the average employee will take home in a year.

Despite top bosses’ pay dropping by a fifth last year, the gap between those at the top and those at the bottom remains huge.

Labour responded promising to impose maximum wage ratios and reform employment law.

Jeremy Corbyn said:

“These shocking inequalities in our society must end.”

“The next Labour government will roll out maximum pay ratios, introduce a Real Living Wage of £10 per hour and strengthen trade union rights so workers can fight for better pay and conditions.”

Frances O’Grady, TUC General Secretary said:

“Worker are suffering the longest pay squeeze since Napoleonic times. But fat cat bosses are still getting salaries that look like telephone numbers. The government needs a plan to make the economy fair again.

“Workers should be given seats on pay committees to bring some common sense and fairness to boardroom pay. And the minimum wage should be put up to £10 an hour as quickly as possible.”

Tim Roache, GMB General Secretary, said:

“Despite promises to tackle executive pay, the bosses of big corporations are still raking in well over a hundred times the average worker’s pay.

“Last year Theresa May broke her pledge to guarantee worker representation on company boards, a move which would have helped shed light on corporate excess and redress the balance towards fairer pay.

“It’s simply obscene that in just three working days, top company bosses will have made more money than the typical UK full-time worker will earn in the entire year.

“Does anyone really think these fat cats deserve 100 times more than the hard-working people who prop up their business empires? Workers who have to scrimp and save to feed their families and put a roof over their head – and like most of Britain’s working population will now be feeling the pinch after the festive period?

”Big corporations are not going to volunteer to really rein themselves in, which is why we need greater restraint on the excesses of those at the top.”