CORPORATE GREED BY NUMBERS

During the last round of rail strikes against massive cuts to jobs and services and declining pay, Good Morning Britain TV presenter Paul Brand blithely accused RMT general secretary Mick Lynch standing on a picket line of earning a six-figure salary. Mr Lynch denied the unfounded allegation in his usual urbane style noting “that’s completely untrue” and asked him where he got that false information. In true media style, the presenter mumbled about unspecified newspaper articles and declared that he was not trying to ‘demonise’ Mr Lynch, which can be read of course that he was, in fact, trying to demonise him. Moments later the same TV presenter sparked a wave of complaints from the listening public by introducing Network Rail CEO Andrew Haines - who does earn £593,000 per annum over 20 times a rail guard’s income - and all mention of large salaries strangely disappeared. Moreover, the generosity of railway employers does not end there. In fact, the thirteen bosses listed opposite lead the companies that are responsible for most train operating companies in England, own much of Britain’s rolling stock and manage the railway’s infrastructure. Across the latest two years for which financial reports are available, their total remuneration exceeded £19 million. A number of these directors made or often stand to make in excess of £1 million a year. Whilst frontline rail workers are being subjected to pay restraint and being told that it’s because of the need to be RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: september 2022 :: RMTnews 18 CORPORATE GREED BY NUMBERS While transport workers face pay freezes fat cat bosses take home millions in pay THE TEN FTSE 100 COMPANIES WITH THE HIGHEST CEO PAY WERE AS FOLLOWS: Company Sector CEO Amount (£millions) Endeavour Precious metals and mining Sebastien De Montessus 16.85 Astra Zeneca Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology Pascal Soriot 13.86 CRH Construction and Materials Albert Manifold 11.68 Anglo American Industrial Metals and Mining Mark Cutifani 9.83 RELX Media Erik Engstrom 9.63 Lloyds Banking Group Banks Antonio Horta Osorio, 8.86 William Chalmers, Charlie Nunn (combined pay for time in post as CEO) Schroders Investment Banking and Brokerage Peter Harrison 8.48 Flutter Travel and Leisure Peter Jackson 8.4 GSK Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology Emma Walmsley 8.2 Berkeley Household Goods and Rob Perrins 7.97 Home Construction (Unusually, the highest paid FTSE 250 CEO Frederic Vecchioli of Safestore, paid £17.06m, was paid more than any FTSE 100 CEO).