Unite response to the government's proposals on corporate pay
The government's proposals on corporate pay will not achieve the change needed to bridge the gap between excessive boardroom rewards and meagre wages for workers, the general secretary of the country's biggest union, Unite, Len McCluskey warned today.
Commenting Len McCluskey said:
"The UK is one of the most unequal developed economies. Too many at the top enjoy eye-wateringly high salaries and rewards like gold-plated pensions while the workers who have helped make them so rich struggle more and more to make ends meet.
"We see it in the wealth enjoyed by bank bosses while bank workers have to make ends meet on breadline wages. We see it too at our national carrier where the fat cats at British Airways earn many hundreds times more than cabin crew on £12,000 and food vouchers.
"So yes, absolutely something must be done to bring some sanity and justice to wages in this country.
"What is being proposed today will not do that. It will not address the wage crisis working people are enduring.
"The government has chosen to distance itself from making changes, shoving the onus for this onto the wider community to hold listed companies to account by lobbying shareholders. This is simply inadequate, and is actually insulting.
"Today's announcement only confirms that the Tory government is washing its hands of its responsibilities to change the broken corporate culture in this country.
"If the government is serious about redressing the imbalance then it must support collective bargaining and stop decrying trade union members as somehow the `enemy of the state'. Survey after survey has found that where unions are present workers are more justly rewarded, so we are absolutely part of the solution.
"Once again the big business lobby has brought the Tory party to heel."
