At the last full meeting of Salford City Council, Mayor Ian Stewart and one of his twelve Assistant Mayors, Paul Dennett, crowed about Salford's 2014-15 pay policy and what they saw as great news – that, thanks to bringing in the Living Wage, the Council's top paid employee will only be earning 10.7 times as much as the lowest paid workers.
This compared well to Trafford's 11.8 pay ratio, they explained, metaphorically patting themselves on the back. What they didn't say was that, last year, the highest paid Salford Council employee (£175,000) was 12.6 times the lowest salary, one of the highest in the region.
What they also didn't reveal was that new `Council Director', Jim Taylor's salary of £150,000 would put him in the top 1% of earners in the UK, and has only been brought in line with the UK Fat Cat council average.
"Salford should consider setting a target top to bottom pay multiple of 1:8, this is the ratio deemed 'sustainable' and 'competitive' by the international wage standard Wagemark" says Benjamin Irvine of Steady State Manchester, which has produced a report with Equality North West titled In Place of Pay Inequality.
"Based on a top salary of £150,000 and annual increases in the Living Wage of 2.7% it would take ten years of frozen top salaries to reach a top to bottom ratio of 1:8" he adds "'Steady State Manchester and Equality North West would argue that a rigorous and principled approach to a reduction in pay inequalities is required from Government which recognizes and sets absolute limits to top incomes.
"If the goal of local government is to bring about sustainable and equitable human well-being, what place do individual incomes that are incompatible with environmental limits and social harmony have in local government?" he explains "Salford Council has taken steps in the right direction but it should set a target pay ratio, in line with their aspirations for a fair, equal and ecologically sustainable City and work to tackle not just in-work poverty but the gross disparities in income which damage society and are incompatible with sustainability in all its work in the City. It can start by setting an example of a socially and ecologically principled approach to pay by setting a target pay multiple."
Salford Council's last accounts for 2012-13 revealed huge pay hikes for those just below the highest paid executive, in some cases up to £10,000 a year (see previous Salford Star article – click here).
The accounts also revealed that, while Salford Council has become a Living Wage employer, those at the bottom end of the pay scale were hardest hit by the cuts - 177 school and non-school staff who worked for the Council and earned under £20,000 left employment - 86% of the total axed posts.
They left with average `exit packages' of just over £9,000. This compares to the binned Assistant Chief Executive, who got a `loss of office' pay off of almost £20,000 – plus over £91,000 as a pension pot `capitalised cost of early retirement'.
The Steady State Manchester and Equality North West report concludes that "Local Authorities in Greater Manchester have more unequal pay than the average for UK Councils despite the introduction of 'living wages'".
Benjamin Irvine adds "No council in Greater Manchester held figures for the pay of those employed by their contractors, and despite Salford and Oldham encouraging contractors to pay living wages they could find no evidence of this being successful."
Salford Council's staff trade union, Salford City UNISON is currently balloting on a national pay offer of just 1%, which would, if implemented, mean a pay cut. It looks set to be rejected.
See the full Steady State Manchester and Equality North West report – click here
See also previous Salford Star article: Salford Council to Take On Fat Cat Rochdale Reject - click here
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