The gap between workers and bosses is widening during the cost of living crisis as CEOs’ pay increased by 39 per cent on average in the last year, new research has found.
Median pay of chief executives of FTSE 100 companies rose to £3.41million in 2021, up from £2.46m, the High Pay Centre and the Trades Union congress (TUC) found. It means bosses are now paid 109 times more than the median UK full-time worker, up from 79 times more in 2020 and 107 times more in 2019.
The figures come as dock workers at the UK’s largest container port in Felixstowe, Suffolk, have become the latest workers to go on strike over pay. Railway staff, refuse collectors and criminal barristers are among the workers who have walked out over pay in 2022 as wages have struggled to keep up with surging inflation of over 10 per cent.
“Workers deserve a fair share of the wealth they create but right now, CEO pay is soaring while working people experience the biggest real wage fall in 20 years,” said TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady.
“We need stronger rules to rein in executive pay. This should include worker representatives on the committees that set top pay and elected seats for workers on company boards.
“This approach is already commonplace in many countries and works very well. The government should give UK workers this opportunity too.”