Australian chief executives’ ‘obscene’ wages revealed

The “obscene” amount some Australian chief executives are making when compared with their workers has been revealed with the average CEO making 130 times more than an average worker.

The average Australian chief executive is making 130 times more than the average worker, a shocking new report from the Australian Services Union has revealed.

The analysis, which was released by the union on Thursday, examined the growing divide between what chief executives are being paid when compared with their employees.

“There is an increasing share of wealth being funnelled away from the workforce that builds a company’s wealth to a limited cohort of people,” the report said.

The average Australian chief executive is making 130 times more than the average worker.

“It is not unusual for a chief executive to earn 100 times more than the vast majority of their workers. This year the average ASX 100 chief executive earnt more than 134 times the average Australian’s wage.

“In a period where wages for most Australians have stagnated for close to a decade, this sort of wealth transfer to a few is difficult to describe in a positive light.”

The report found that Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci was paid 213-239 times more than one of his average employees.

Mr Banducci received nearly $11.8m in realised pay in the 2021 financial year, while the average Woolworths worker received between $49,234 and $55,432.

Embattled Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce received a salary that was 72 times higher than the average airline employee during a period where the airline dealt with numerous travel issues and thousands of airline workers lost their jobs.

Mr Joyce was paid $23.88m in 2018, while most workers have not received a pay raise since July 2019.

Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci earnt 213-239 times more than one of his average employees. Picture: John Feder/The Australian

Tabcorp chief executive David Attenborough received $4.6m in the 2021 financial year, a figure that was 48 to 89 times higher than the average wage of a Tabcorp worker.

AMCOR chief executive Ron Delia was paid $11.32m, 256 times that of the average AMCOR worker worldwide.

As Australian companies are not required to provide easily accessible public data on their workforces or average income, the ASU sourced these figures through multiple avenues, including the Australian Bureau of Statistics, company annual reports, enterprise bargaining agreements and share price data.

ASU national secretary Robert Potter said the wages Australian chief executives were being paid were “obscene”.

“In a period where wages for most Australians have stagnated for close to a decade, this sort of wealth transfer to a limited few is nothing short of obscene,” he said.

“Rapidly accelerating chief executive and senior executive pay has exacerbated inequality, with executive salaries and corporate profits now at record highs.

“Recently, there have been many instances of chief executive and senior executives making huge fortunes due to cost cutting, outsourcing, redundancies and wage-reduction initiatives. This has got to stop.”

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce was paid 72 times more than the average airline employee. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

The ASU has called on the federal government to amend the Corporations Act and other related regulations to stifle rising executive salaries.

They recommended that company’s should be forced into disclose their worker’s median income/salary, and required to pass a shareholder motion at each AGM when a chief executive or senior executive’s total pay is more than 10 times that of their worker’s median income/salary.

“In our view, weak corporate governance has been a large part of the problem and these reforms will serve to promote greater transparency, place upward pressure on employee wages and will also help close the gender pay equity gap,” Mr Potter said.

“These are proactive measures that will lead to a fairer society at a time when workers have the lowest share of the national wealth in recorded history.”

Originally published as Australian chief executives’ ‘obscene’ wages revealed