Bonuses - Even fatter cats
WORKERS, JAN 2007 ISSUE
AT LEAST £9 billion is expected to be paid out in City of London finance houses and banks bonuses by the end of December. Enough to fund Britain's daily bills for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq for seven months, or to write off the NHS debt of £600 million by 15 times? But no it will go into the troughs of Canary Wharf, the Square Mile and City institutions. Now, if £9 billion is being paid in bonuses, what profits are being generated for capital?
Wage settlements for full-time employees have been averaging between 2 and 3 per cent across the country during the past 12 months. Average settlements for chief executives, directors, and so on, have been 31 times as high!
In 1983 the ratio of a chief executive's pay to that of an ordinary worker was 9:1. In 2000 it was 39:1.
So it is one argument to have about work for equal pay or for work of equal value which the trade unions consistently pursue to ensure equality of wages on a gender basis. It is quite another to pursue the real inequality generated by the wages system of capitalist versus worker.