Peter Boyle
Correction: A recent report, quoted in Green Left Weekly, that the CEOs of the big corporations belonging to the Business Council of Australia (BCA) were paid 63 times the average wage of their companies’ employees, was wrong.
According to John Shields of the School of Business, Work and Organisational Studies at Sydney University, when you figure in equity-based “rewards”, including share grants, share options and associated share “rights”, the ratio changes to 100:1.
That is, the CEOs of corporations such as Wesfarmers, IBM Australia, Qantas, Rio Tinto and Boral get 100 times the average wage of their workers.
Shields reported: “[Average annual] CEO remuneration in the 51 sample BCA companies has risen from around $0.6 million to approximately $5 million, which translates to a non-inflation adjusted 15-year rise of 730%, an annual compound increase of 15.2%, and an inflation-adjusted annual increase of 12.4%” (see <http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=4277>).
Predictably, the BCA defended CEOs’ greed, even as it cheered on the enactment of new federal laws that aim to slash the wages and conditions of their employees.
“Companies would not be doing their job if they were not prepared to pay what was a globally competitive remuneration package to get the best talent”, a BCA spokesperson said. “The pay over the last 10 years has increased, but what’s also happened over that period is that the performance incentive component of that pay has increased significantly, from 20% to 57%.”
Rewarded for what performance? “Best-practice” exploitation, greed and social vandalism that society and the environment cannot sustain. Doesn’t it make you sick?
If you can help us raise just 5% of the average annual pay of one of these corporate fat cats in 2006 you will be making a significant contribution to building a movement that will one day do away with the systematic rip-off that is capitalism today.
Last week, our supporters raised $2,396, bringing the total raised so far for our 2006 fighting fund to $42,045. That’s 17% of our target.
Can you help us get there faster? If you can, please give us a call on 1800 634 206 (toll-free for calls within Australia only), send a cheque to PO Box 394, Broadway 2007, or donate online (protected by SecurePay) at <http://www.greenleft.org.au/fogl.htm>.
From Green Left Weekly, March 29, 2006.
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