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Link to this page: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/931/24197
From The Socialist newspaper, 11 January 2017
Bosses earn average annual salary in under three days
'Fat Cat Wednesday' - take the wealth off the 1%
'The subsidised mineowner - poor beggar!' Cartoon from a 1925 trade union magazine, photo Wikimedia (Creative Commons) (Click to enlarge)
Carl Harper, Peterborough Socialist Party
Top bosses had earnt more than the £28,200 median salary by around midday on 4 January - 'Fat Cat Wednesday'.
According to the figures from High Pay Centre, the average FTSE 100 chief executive now earns more than £1,000 an hour. These bosses now typically earn 129 times more than their average employee.
Figures for 2015 showed that average annual pay for a FTSE 100 boss was £5.5 million, or 401 times that of a minimum wage worker.
The Fat Cat Wednesday calculation is based on bosses starting back at work after Christmas on 2 January, based on median FTSE 100 chief executive pay of £4 million in 2015.
The hourly pay rate of £1,009 is calculated based on bosses working 12 hours a day, including three out of every four weekends, and taking fewer than ten days' holiday a year.
Undoubtedly some bosses do work extreme hours. But so do many nurses in our struggling NHS, doing far more useful work for a tiny fraction of the pay.
And the gulf in pay is undoubtedly larger. Official pay figures downplay the army of workers in insecure, precarious work, since the average is based on those who have been in their job for at least a year.
Frances O'Grady, leader of the Trade Union Congress, apparently responded by calling for Theresa May to honour her promise to put workers on boards. How about building for coordinated strikes against austerity?
And why just token workers on boards? Why shouldn't workers own and control the lot?
As long as super-rich minority owns and controls the top corporations, they'll use them for private profit. Nationalise them under the democratic control and management of workers, so the working class can plan what we make to meet the needs of all!
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Finance appeal
The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.
The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.
- The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
- When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.
Inevitably, during the crisis we have not been able to sell the Socialist and raise funds in the ways we normally would.
We therefore urgently appeal to all our viewers to donate to our Fighting Fund.
In The Socialist 11 January 2017:
NHS in meltdown
NHS in meltdown from spending cuts - demonstrate on 4 March!
Sustainability and Transformation plans - a repackaging of cuts
Worcestershire hospital deaths expose NHS crisis
Socialist Party comments and reviews
Football abuse scandal: Reclaim the game for justice and accountability
Book review: Spy drama gives insight into capitalist coup plot
What we think
Socialist Party news and analysis
'Cash for ash' scandal set to bring down Northern Ireland government
May slams 'economic inequalities' Tory policies created
Blair's multimillion plans to fight 'populism'
Bosses earn average salary in under three days
Them & Us: £500k house party... 50p for rent
Labour Party
Haringey: pressure grows as Labour council cuts
Sick of sham consultations - give us a real fightback
Khan should attack bosses, not workers
Socialist Party workplace news
Tube strike solid in fight for jobs and safety
Support BA cabin crews' strike for fair pay
Sham Royal Mail pensions consultation - action needed
Unison legal battle looks into allegations 'Team Dave' broke rules during general secretary election
Socialist Party reports and campaigns
Build the resistance against Trump
Socialist Party national women's meeting
2016: A record-breaking fighting fund year!
Closing of the children's centres could cost lives
International socialist news and analysis
Palestine/Israel: Everyday life under occupation
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