Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business

Calling for company bosses to get a pay rise is obscene

The TUC’s Paul Nowak
‘The TUC’s Paul Nowak is right. We need maximum pay ratios and elected workers’ representatives on boards.’ Photograph: Yui Mok/PA

Julia Hoggett, the chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, should be ashamed of herself (London Stock Exchange chief calls for UK firms to pay bosses more, 3 May). The average pay of £3.4m for FTSE 100 chief executives means that the ratio compared with average workers is over 100:1, something that is clearly unjustifiable. Having an “average total pay” of £33,000 means that in the UK, millions of hard-pressed workers are struggling to make ends meet on wages far below what is needed to manage in this inflation-ridden climate.

UK companies have had an appalling record in the last decade of short-termism, with low levels of investment in training and technology but very high levels of remuneration for bosses and shareholders. With companies also accused of keeping the rate of inflation high by driving up prices and therefore profits, calling for a pay rise for already highly paid bosses verges on the obscene.

The Trades Union Congress’s Paul Nowak is right: we need maximum pay ratios and elected workers’ representatives on boards.
Bernie Evans
Liverpool

• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.