The leaders of some of Britain\’s biggest unions saw their pay and perks rocket by up to 30 per cent last year, despite the impact of the recession on their members.
Official figures reveal that some union barons have fared far better in the downturn than the \’fat cat\’ company directors they criticise, whose pay rose an average 10 per cent last year. Many union chiefs are earning six-figure pay packages.
Left-wing firebrand Tony Woodley, joint general secretary of the super-union Unite, was paid £122,108 in salary and benefits.
His pay package represents a 30 per cent increase on the previous year, when he was paid £93,407 in salary and benefits, which include a grace-and-favour flat in London.
Gosh, what should we do about this new outbreak of greed?
Surely it will be condemned by the usual suspects?
Just to give a flavour of relative values…..yes, Unite has 2 million members and at the rate of one union official per 2,000 members (that\’s the rate someone just said was about right for the public sector) that would mean say 1,000 who actually work for the union.
1,000 people ain\’t all that large an organisation, there are plenty of middle managers running that sort of sized set up out there and very few of them are on as much as £120 grand plus a grace and favour pad in London.
Disgusting I call it…..
Really? If I was running an organisation of 1,000 people I wouldn’t think that £120k + access to flat was too out of kilter with general expectations.
JH:
But union bosses are supposed to be different aren’t they? Primus inter pares and all that.
You know what the funny thing is? The Unite membership fees went up the other week too! This is the only link I can find to the announcement, as it doesn’t seem to be on their website:
http://wbeeson.co.uk/healthcarechaplains/documents1/jointgsaug09.doc
I wonder what pay, pensions and working conditions are like for those who are employed by these unions. Some of the reports are that they are pretty poor.
And according to the Times (yesterday), rather a lot of trade union officials are being paid not by their union, but by the taxpayer. They are “embeds” in the civil service.
Hooray, and cosy sinecures all round…
How many peole does a Colonel command? How much is he paid?
Colonels get shot at from time to time. Now while I like to imagine Bob Crow up against the wall facing a firing squad, it’s not actually an occupational hazard.
Battalion commanders, usually Lt Cols, have a capitation rate based on about 110k (their actual pay ranges from 65,717 to 76,095, dependant upon time served).
“…that £120k + access to flat was too out of kilter with general expectations….”
but the article says “was paid £122,108 in salary and benefits.
His pay package represents a 30 per cent increase on the previous year, when he was paid £93,407 in salary and benefits, which INCLUDE a grace-and-favour flat in London.
this sounds to me as though the flat has been given a value that has been added as ‘benefits’. For a fair debate we need to know what value this flat has been given and if the union leader has any say in what goes into the flat. For example if the flat is in Mayfair and is furnished to the nines, cleaned daily and has a cook its ‘value’ would be around the 60k a year mark. If it’s in bethnal green and is a bedsit with no windows it might be valued at 9k per year.