Unions have declared the bonus culture has “no place” in either the private or public sectors.
Speaking at the TUC’s annual congress Gerry Doherty, general secretary of the transport union TSSA, told delegates “the bonus culture, it has no place in society”.
He said: “It’s pure greed. This is wrong, it has to stop and it has to come from the trade union movement. Greed has to go and we have to tell the government that.”
Doherty pointed to news that Thomas Cook’s chief executive Manny Fontenla-Novoa took home over £7m in 2008, while 2,800 employees lost their jobs at the travel company.
Meanwhile, Adam Crozier, chief executive of the Royal Mail Group, was paid £995,000 in 2008-09.
David Wilshire, Bristol branch secretary at the Communication Workers Union, added: “It’s unacceptable that while postal workers have a pay freeze imposed and are having their terms and conditions threatened, Crozier has enjoyed a bumper bonus.”
Brian Cookson, national treasurer of the teaching union NASUWT, called for head teachers pay to be limited and to be made public.
He said: “Of course teachers must be properly remunerated, but can we say from the size of these salaries that it’s more difficult to run a school that a country?
“The bonus culture has no place in the state education system. Pay and rewards of head teachers must be made public.”
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