'Shocking' High Pay Centre report exposes staggering pay inequalities in UK's most valuable companies
GMB, Britain's general union, has called for extensions of collective bargaining and worker representation on renumeration committees to help curb 'obscene' pay ratios of more than 100:1.
The calls come in response to the High Pay Centre's new report published today [16 December 2020] on executive pay ratios in FTSE 350 companies.
The report found that the average (median) pay ratio of FTSE 100 CEOs to lower quartile employees was 109:1 in 2019/20.
The highest reported executive pay ratio to the average (median) employee was at Ocado, which had a staggering ratio of 2,605:1.
The union warned that the true pay ratios of many employers was likely to be even worse than reported, due to the outsourcing of low-paid workers.
Laurence Turner, GMB Head of Policy and Research, said:
"This shocking and important report provides a vivid snapshot of the staggering inequalities and exploitation in the world of work on the eve of the coronavirus outbreak.
"There is no business or moral justification to pay an executive an obscene ratio of more than two thousand times the average worker.
"Action is needed, especially at a time when hundreds of thousands of jobs are under threat and households are struggling to make ends meet.
"Ministers, employers, and shareholders must all put an end to this runaway train.
"Part of the answer is to secure greater coverage of collective bargaining agreements that ensure fairer wages for workers, and making sure that workers' voices are represented when decisions on pay policies are made."
