£178,000 salary is shameful as cuts bite deep

Excellent stuff from Don Grimes, incidentally it disgusts me how much University Vice-chancellor's get paid as well, all about inequality, all about 1%, so proud that the Green Party is making noise about this.

Sir

The announcement that B&NES Council is to retain the post of Chief Executive (2010-2011 salary £178,000 per year plus pension benefits) and also pay a 'head-hunting' fee of £50,000 of council taxpayers' money in this time of high-level unemployment reflects very poorly on the councillors who voted for this – the majority of them.

When so many people are to be laid off and low-paid workers are having difficulty making ends meet, this appointment is a missed opportunity for councillors to address the gulf between rich and poor in their own workforce by not paying the boss more than ten times the lowest paid worker in salary and benefits.

Lesley Seary, the incoming chief executive of Islington Borough Council in London has not only accepted this 10:1 ratio but has taken a salary cut of £50,000 making her salary £160,000. She said: "We are committed to tackling inequality in all its forms and putting money back in the pockets of our residents."What a contrast to our own bloated executives supported by unnamed councillors spending other people's money.

This could have been an opportunity for our council to lead the way and encourage others to follow suit, but instead it simply seems to confirm the fact that when it comes to high pay, and examples such as banking bonus excesses, the ConDem coalition will never do anything except talk about it.

So there’s the challenge - hopefully some of our councillors will take it up.

Yours
Don Grimes
Bath and North East Somerset Green Party


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