Labor plans to give corporate customers the chance to vote on the salary of the meeting room | Business

Customers of the 7,000 largest British companies would be entitled to vote on the compensation of top executives as part of plans to reduce the compensation of board members contemplated by the Labor Party.

A report commissioned by Rebecca Long-Bailey, Technical Secretary for the Shadow, and John McDonnell, Chancellor of the Shadow, calls for an annual binding vote on programs for senior executives to include all Stakeholders, employees and consumers included.

Other suggestions include the removal of all forms of stock options so that executives are paid only in cash, the ban on golden handshakes and punitive fines for directors of companies that persistently fail to pay the minimum wage. The report also proposes that all UK companies with more than 250 employees be required to disclose paid employees at more than £ 150,000 a year.

Following a study by the International Labor Organization earlier this week, showing that wage growth in Britain was the lowest of the nine advanced economies in the last decade, the report states that its 20 recommendations are needed to "reduce the undeserved salaries of leaders". create mechanisms for a better distribution of income ".

The Labor Party, which seeks to show that it is ready to fight for an early election if the government of Theresa May collapses on the Brexit, warmly welcomed the report commissioned by a team led by Prem Sikka, professor of accounting and finance at the University of Sheffield.

Party sources have pointed out that it would be wrong to badume that all suggestions would be included in the party's next manifesto, but Long-Bailey and McDonnell are sympathetic to five key reforms proposed by Sikka:

• That executive compensation contracts for large companies be made public

• That executive compensation be in cash because rewards in the form of stock options, shares and benefits invite misuse.

• That pay gaps between executives and employees badyzed by gender and ethnicity be published

• That corporate law be amended to give all stakeholders the right to propose a cap on executive compensation and bonuses

• The remuneration of each director of a large company must be subject to a binding annual vote of various stakeholders.

Stakeholders include shareholders, long-term customers and employees.

Unions believe that an attempt to reduce conference room wages is justified by the lack of restraint on the boards and by the absence of voluntary codes impacting executive pay . The reforms proposed by Sikka would apply to some 7,000 British companies with at least 250 employees, representing more than 10 million workers.

Long-Bailey said, "While many of our businesses are working hard to ensure that profits and prosperity are shared equitably among their employees, there is still a pernicious business culture in some companies. that many companies in Britain consider immoral.

"It can not be fair that in just three business days, the biggest bosses in the UK will have earned more money than the typical full-time worker will earn in the whole year. Unions will look closely at the recommendations of this report as we seek to strengthen our current policy of addressing pay inequities. "

The labor movement believes it can tap into the growing public anger fueled by the weakest decade since the 19th century in terms of employee compensation. The report notes that a typical FTSE 100 company executive earned about 20 times the salary of an average British worker in the 1980s, but that figure had risen to 70 times in the early 1980s. 2000 and 150 times in the mid-2010s.

The report suggests that employees and other stakeholders should have a say in determining conference room pay in order to "push for better income distribution and improved quality of services provided to consumers".

The report adds that it would be simple to identify utility customers, but that loyalty programs also allow for the views of customers of other large companies.

"Thus, consumers in many sectors can be identified with certainty and must be eligible to vote on executive compensation. This would help control excessive profits, product misuses, poor services and customer abuse. "

Employees facing wage freezes and stakeholders facing poor products, poor services and high prices would not likely lead to large increases for executives, which would be a powerful drag on compensation " Exorbitant "directors, says the report.

"If business leaders think they deserve more, then they need to seek the approval of all stakeholders, which is unlikely to be achieved without a corresponding improvement in benefits for all.

McDonnell said: "In the wake of the report of the International Labor Organization published Monday, the magnitude of premiums and their payment method opaque should be a source of shame for the leaders of our economy. The government has shown no interest in addressing the causes of inequalities in our society and we thank Professor Sikka and his team for highlighting the problem. "