Directors pay rises 50% in past year

[rov1100]

Who could really object to these high flyers getting such large amounts when this country is in such a state we need top calibre people to pull us out of this mess?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15487866

[jno]

we're all in this together, rov

[ludwig]

I was listening some fatcat on radio 4 this morning and it went something like this.

interviewer: Explain how your remuneration works

fatcat: Well I get a very low basic salary and the rest is at risk because it's made up of bonuses linked to performance etc.

interviewer: You say a very low basic salary - it's 1.5 million isn't it?

fatcat: Er ..yes, but that's [splutter] ..that's very low compared to er..on a worldwide basis..taking into account ..ahem..blah blah blah. etc etc.

The rich are never 'in it together' with the rest of us on anything. That's the whole point of being rich isn't it?, so they don't have to be.

[LazyGun]

@ Rov - The issue, I think, is that people will focus on the size of these bonuses, and remuneration packages in general, as an example of the huge inequality in salaries and wages that currently exists.

In a time of austerity, it seems to me that many of these chief execs should be showing a degree of restraint, rather than wallowing in the money.

If it were true that as a consequence of such salary packages we were getting the absolute best of the best, capable of turning the fortumes of a company around, then you might be able to argue that such remuneration is justified - but I see no evidence of that - Quite the contrary in fact.

[rov1100]

You would think so Lazygun what example are they showing to their own workforce.

I'm amazed how they get such large increases but it seems its not the ordinary shareholder who hasa a say in what they get but managers of pension funds etc. Its time the system was changed!

I feel we are heading for another Winter of discontent where everything came to a standstill. The lights went out, bodies were unable to be buried and there was a national strike to boot.

[rov1100]

Yes Ludwig they seem to be living on a different planet.

[andy-hughes]

I could!

I work for BT, and a couple of years ago, the only section of the company to make a loss was the Global division. Their chief, employed for less than a year, was given a pay off when he was sacked, of an ammount that would take someone of my grade twenty-five years to earn.

I have no objection ot high salaries and bonuses for executives, as long as they deliver, and the bonues are witheld and the salary re-paid if they fail.

The notion of twenty million if you succeeed, and thea sack with eight million if you fail is not really going to concentrate the mind on success, is it?