25 signatures reached
To: Ed Milliband
Implement a statutory maximum multiplier between the lowest and highest earners
Dear Mr Milliband
In order to help deliver both a fairer society but also a more productive society, we the undersigned wish to see the implementation of a statutory maximum multiplier (a relative earnings limit) between the lowest and highest earning employees of any individual company or organisation. This will cap the excesses at the top and at the same time promote better wages for those at the bottom of an organisation.
We believe that a commitment in the Labour Party Manifesto in advance of the general election next year to a statutory relative earnings limit would be a highly popular policy amongst voters and would help ensure the Labour Party a victory. But more importantly, it could play a major part in distributing wealth and developing a fairer society.
Why is this important?
The vast majority of people are appalled by the massive gap between the very richest and the very poorest in society; a gap that over the past two or three decades has been ever widening. Most people are particularly dismayed at the growing need for those in work to need the crutch of benefits to bring their income up to a living wage. An effective way of combating this is to outlaw excess at the top and to obligate fairer wages at the bottom. A relative earnings limit which puts a statutory maximum multiplier on the earnings of the highest paid employee v the lowest, should go some way to curbing this inequality.
For example, if that maximum multiplier were x50 (which itself is massive), then if a CEO wished to be paid earnings (including bonuses) of £1,000,000 per year, then the lowest paid employee must earn the equivalent of £20,000 full-time salary. This petition doesn't in itself suggest what that maximum multiplier should be but simply that there should be some degree of relativity. We also appreciate that the policy and any legislation needs to be drafted with considerable care, to ensure that all earnings are included (including bonuses, pensions and share options) and to ensure that lowest wages aren't disguised by outsourcing the lowest paid jobs to other bodies. However fear of loopholes and abuse should not stop the brightest politicians and economists from devising a workable and legally binding way of promoting fairness through a relative earnings limit. We do not see such a limit applied to personal investors in and entrepreneurs and creators of new ventures - only to employees within organisations.
