Cleaners ranked 334 out of 346 in 2006 UK Pay League
GMB, Britain's general union, has updated its occupational pay league for employees in all 346 occupational groups in the UK by ranking official pay data for April 2006 from the top to the bottom, using official figures from the Office of National Statistics Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings for April 2006.
Top of the 2006 UK league were Company Directors & Chief Executives with mean gross annual pay of £181,491 which is 16 times the National Minimum Wage, while the cleaner's mean gross annual pay is said to be £13,296. The figures for window cleaners were judged to be 'unreliable or unavailable'. The UK mean gross annual pay in 2006 was £29,331.
This research comes following the Low Pay Commission's announcement that the current National Minimum Wage rate of £11,128 per annum (from 1st October 2006) for a 40 hour week will be increased by £353.60 to £11,481.60 from 1st October 2007, and covers those in full time employment only.
Paul Kenny, GMB General Secretary commenting on the figures said, "This annual look by GMB at what people in different occupations earn on average always generates a lot of comment, particularly from workers who earn less than the average figure shown for their occupation. The figures are sound and reflect the upstairs downstairs nature of pay rewards in the UK.
We have the average pay for company directors at more than sixteen times what 1.3 million on the national minimum wage are paid. But that is only the average for company directors. For example GMB were told recently that Damon Buffini, the boss of Permira which employs GMB members at the AA and Bird's Eye is paid in excess of £40 million a year.
There is another problem too. People at the bottom and the middle pay tax and National Insurance on all their pay while those at the top are able to exploit all sorts of loopholes to avoid paying their fair share of tax. It is essential that we have a fair and progressive tax system and that everyone pays their fair share."
The full table can be seen at:
W: http://www.gmb.org.uk/Shared_ASP_Files/UploadedFiles/0567EF90-51A6-403F-B3E6-F4541EF49FF2_4digitSOCASHE20061.pdf
5th April 2007
