This Friday, the fourteen most influential CEOs of Dutch companies will have earned on average all the income that someone with the minimum wage has to work for a whole year. This is reported by the trade union FNV, which has declared this day Fat Cat Day.
The union launched this ‘fat cat day’ in 2020 after the British example, to draw attention to the imbalance between the top of the business community and employees who are on or around the minimum wage. To compile the list, the FNV compared the remuneration of the directors of the fourteen most influential companies with the statutory minimum wage.
CEO Shell earns the most
This year, the highest-earning director, Wael Sawan of Shell, has a minimum annual wage in his pocket after just 28 hours. According to FNV, the 48-year-old successor to Ben van Beurden had already earned the income for a minimum wage worker for a year at 04:08 am on January 2, according to FNV.
More than three hours later, at 7:24 am, director Frans Muller of Ahold Delhaize followed. On the same day at 08:24 it was Roy Jakobs’ turn, the new CEO of Philips. He took office in October as the new director of the beleaguered healthcare technology group. When he took office, he immediately announced a major reorganization. In addition, 4,000 jobs worldwide will be cut.
According to calculations by FNV, Sawan earns 7.38 million euros per year, Frans Muller 5.71 million and the Philips CEO 5.45 million euros. The list also includes the directors of Randstad, Aegon and KPN, among others. The director of PostNL, Herna Verhagen, is also on the list, at number 9. After six days of work, she has earned what a minimum wage earner has to work for a year.
Mail deliverers
FNV points out that novice parcel sorters and mail deliverers at PostNL earned just over 10.50 euros gross per hour last year. “PostNL still refuses to pay 14 euros per hour, as does Ahold. Other companies such as ING also always want to reduce labor costs,” it sounds.
Wouter Koolmees, former minister and now director of NS, is at the bottom of the list of the fourteen most influential companies. It’s his turn on January 19 at 1:54 AM. According to the union, his salary is 497,232 euros per year.
With the list, the union hopes to encourage directors to make a case for a fairer distribution of wealth. From January 1, the statutory minimum wage has increased from 10.65 to 11.75 per hour (for a 38-hour working week), but FNV states that it is ‘not even enough to compensate for inflation’. The fat cat day illustrates that inequality in the Netherlands is still too great, the union claims.
The top and shareholders are cashing in, while the people with little income have been hit hardest in this harsh inflationary period
The FNV has been calling for an increase in the statutory minimum wage to 14 euros for some time. FNV vice-chairman Zakaria Boufangacha: ,,The culture in which high earners cash in and want to keep their employees on the lowest possible wage, so that they have to make it to the end of the month with benefits and the food bank, is still widespread. The top and shareholders are cashing in, while the people with little income have been hit hardest in this harsh inflationary period. It is they who make the profits possible and need every penny to make ends meet.”
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