[A-List] UK legitimation crisis: executive pay

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

CBI's Digby Jones accuses union of pay campaign lie

David Gow and Larry Elliott
Tuesday November 26, 2002
The Guardian

Digby Jones, the director-general of the CBI, was last night threatening to
sue one of Britain's biggest unions after the GMB ran an advertisement in
the Guardian accusing him of taking a 42.5% pay increase while attacking the
firefighters for their "excessive pay claim".

Mr Jones said that his CBI pay had risen from £250,000 to £280,000 since he
joined the employers' organisation almost three years ago - an increase of
12.8% in total - and demanded an apology for the GMB's "lie".

"I am amazed that the GMB thinks it is in the best interests of its members
to spend their hard-earned money in difficult times on inserting an
advertisement which is factually incorrect," Mr Jones said.

He added that his CBI salary was topped up by a non-executive directorship
of the software company, iSoft, which had risen from £25,000 to £30,000
since he had joined the employers organisation.

"What disturbs me is when they can pay for an ad to print a lie and then
accuse somebody of hypocrisy based on a lie," he said.

The GMB's defiant response was to place another advertisement in today's
Guardian insisting that Mr Jones's pay had risen from £250,000 to £310,000 -
an increase of 24% - and apologising for underestimating Mr Jones's
"financial hardship".

A GMB spokesman said: "Digby Jones's attitude beggars belief. To complain
about criticism of his £310,000 income when he was calling for firefighters
on £20,000 to have their pay nailed to the floor is an insult."

The public row comes at a time when the salaries of top executives have been
coming under fresh scrutiny as a result of the near-£20m package demanded by
Glaxo SmithKline's Jean-Pierre Garnier.

Mr Jones and fellow CBI leaders have refused to condemn Mr Garnier
individually, but have made plain their embarrassment at the size of the
claim at a time when the government is imposing pay restraint on the public
sector.

An irate Mr Jones said the union obviously had "more money than sense",
adding that he was in touch with the CBI's lawyers over what he said was an
unjust slur.

"I have a very real problem when they lie and then accuse me falsely of
hypocrisy. I am a great believer in transparency. I feel they have done the
union a disservice. If they have to resort to personal attacks it must mean
they are on shaky ground when it comes to the principle. We would never
attack a union leader in this way.

"Compared to a nurse, a teacher or a firefighter I consider myself very
fortunate. But in the market in which I'm operating, it's below what I would
be paid elsewhere."