TUC slams 'boardroom greed' in UK

The bosses of Britain's biggest companies are paid almost 100-times the average wage of their employees, the Trades Union Congress said today.

The bosses of Britain's biggest companies are paid almost 100-times the average wage of their employees, the Trades Union Congress said today.

Top company directors are awarding themselves ever larger salary packages, the TUC said in its evidence to the Government's consultation on executive pay. According to its research, the average pay for a chief executive at the largest 510 companies was £413,300 - 18- times more than their average worker who gets £22,430. In the top 5 per cent of companies, the chief executive earns a "staggering" 94-times as much as the average employee, it said.

John Monks, TUC general secretary, said: "High levels of boardroom greed are helping to create a divided Britain. Those at the bottom of the pay scale are less likely to show restraint when those at the top are getting increasingly fatter pay packets."

The TUC said the gap between the boardroom and the shop floor was now the widest in Europe.