Shame of ‘Fatcat Tuesday’

They’re calling today ‘Fatcat Tuesday’ – and by the end of the day the bosses of Britain’s biggest companies will already have raked in more money in 2015 than most workers in the country will earn this year.

Yesterday (January 5) was the first day back for most UK workers. But a report from the campaign think tank the High Pay Centre shows that some company executives have already earned more cash than most of us will earn in 2015.

Dubbed ‘Fatcat Tuesday’, the High Pay Centre, says the huge discrepancy “highlights the problem of unfair pay in the UK.”   The group calculated that the average FTSE 100 chief executive is paid the equivalent of nearly £1,200 an hour based on the average package for blue-chip bosses of £4.72m in 2013.

The average UK worker earns ÂŁ27,200.

Deborah Hargreaves, director of the High Pay Centre, said, “Fatcat Tuesday highlights the problem of unfair pay. For top bosses to rake in more in two days than their staff earn is a year is clearly unfair and doesn’t make social or economic sense.

“Politicians need to do more to stand up to big business and the super-rich. We must also give workers the power to force employers to share more fairly.”

The average pay for a FTSE 100 company chief executive rose almost £500,000 to £4.72m, according to shareholder advisory service Manifest. The typical worker’s wage rose by a measly £200.

“While the average worker is £50 a week worse off than in 2010, boardroom pay gets bigger and bigger every year,” said TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady.

Greed and excess  

Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner called for “an end to this obscenity of greed and excess by the rich”.

“Today is a day of blinding inequality and shame for Britain’s big business bosses. While workers are returning from the Xmas break struggling with growing debt, utility bills, travel costs and continued attacks on wages.

“The news that Britain’s highest earning bosses have already banked in two days more than most workers will earn this year is obscene but not surprising.

“Following on from bankers pocketing millions in bonuses just last week, today there are reports that Lloyds chief executive, Antonio Horta-Osoria is in line for shares worth over £7m – together with seven other Lloyds bosses that could be sharing payments worth a further £20m while the bank details plans to cut 9,000 staff jobs and close 200 branches.

“It all adds up to the same thing – new year, same old greedy fat cats lining their own pockets while paying their staff peanuts and cutting jobs.

“Hardworking people are being exploited and it’s only a strong powerful trade union movement supporting new sector level collective bargaining structures that will end this scandal. Real growth in workers’ wages must be central to Britain’s economic plan,” added Steve.

Fatcat Tuesday is just the start – soaring pay will continue to come under scrutiny in the next few months as the banks start to announce annual bonuses.