The chief executive of Marconi is due to receive a £1.9m bonus this summer, just weeks after the struggling telecoms company cut 800 jobs.
Mike Parton will receive the bonus for pushing the value of Marconi to more than £1bn at the end of 2003, even though its shares have since fallen to around half that value and the future of the company is now in doubt.
He is in line for the payment because the company’s value on the stock market exceeded £1bn for 90 days. Last month, however, the company’s share price halved as Marconi failed to secure a crucial contract with BT.
Marconi’s failure to be chosen as a supplier for BT’s new £10bn network cost 800 jobs in the UK and forced the company to put itself up for sale. It is currently valued at £570m.
A spokesman for Amicus told the Guardian: “This would be a slap in the face for Marconi employees when 800 of them face redundancy and the remainder an uncertain future.”
He said taking the bonus “would represent the unacceptable face of corporate Britain, with wealth and opportunity for the few at the expense of a skilled and committed workforce”.
Parton refused to say whether he will turn down the reward.
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