Greedy MAN Bosses

[sacktheboard]

Airport 'fat cats' blasted over rises

John Scheerhout


BOSSES at Manchester Airport came under fire today for receiving massive rises at a time when wages of many of their workers were being cut.

"It stinks," said one airport worker. "It's one rule for them and another for the rest of us."

Transport and General Union north west secretary Dave McCall said: "This is in line with the worst we have seen of fat-cat pay increases which has attracted widespread condemnation, including from all the major political parties.

"Our members are being offered an annual increase of about inflation and they are told that's what's needed to keep the airport competitive. Well, if it's good enough for the workers, it should be good enough for the directors."

Accounts of Manchester Airport Group, the umbrella company which owns the airport, show directors' pay went up by 49 per cent from £588,000 to £877,000 in the past year.

Chief executive of Manchester Airport Group, Geoff Muirhead, 54, has been awarded an inflation-busting £54,000 rise. He received £324,000 for the financial year up to March 2003, compared with £270,000 the year before - a rise of 20 per cent.

Mr Muirhead's bumper pay packet included a basic £257,000, bonuses worth £49,000 and other benefits worth £18,000. His pension for the year was worth a further £50,000.

Wage-hike

Separate accounts for Manchester Airport plc, the company which runs the airport, released earlier showed directors' pay increased from £580,000 to £863,000.

Managing director John Spooner received £222,000 in wages and other benefits, not including a pension of £57,000. The figures reveal pre-tax profits of £11.2m at Manchester Airport Group, which owns Manchester, Humberside, Bournemouth and East Midlands airports.

At the beginning of the financial year in which Mr Muirhead received his wage hike, he was leading a cost-cutting programme which included slashing security workers' pay by up to 40 per cent. It resulted in strikes over the pay-cuts and the axing of 140 security jobs.

The cost-cutting has still not been completed.

The T&G's Mr McCall said: "Any clown can make extra profits by cutting salaries. They are presiding over a workforce that's being demoralised by the month and it's a threat to the airport itself."

Chairman of Manchester Airport Group's remuneration committee Margaret Salmon said: "To attract and retain a world-class team, our policy is to set competitive rates of pay at all levels of the organisation to ensure that all employees receive the appropriate remuneration for the job they perform.

"An independent remuneration committee made up of external, non-executive members determines executive pay scales. Recommendations made by the remuneration committee are based upon comprehensive comparisons with the market. The executive team has led the development of the business to become the UK's second largest airports group."


04/11/2003 Manchester Evening News

[mrben]

Makes you sick doesn't it.

[cessna l plate]

Would like to say it suprises me, but it doesn't

[sacktheboard]

Riding the storm

Kevin Feddy


TOUGH but controversial action to make Manchester Airport more efficient has helped it “weather the storm” created by world events, bosses said today.

The airport group, which operates East Midlands, Bournemouth and Humberside as well as Manchester, has faced the challenges of global terrorism, the war in Iraq, SARS and economic uncertainty in the past year.

Bosses implemented a restructuring programme at Manchester, which involved 140 redundancies and significant changes in terms and conditions affecting around 400 workers, some of whom suffered pay cuts of up to 40 per cent. The strategy reduced operating costs by £8.7m in the year to March 31.

But the group incurred exceptional costs of £14.3m, mostly in redundancy and compensation payments.

Today, the group announced operating profits for the year fell 3.1 per cent to £60m, but pre-tax profits after exceptionals were up 16 per cent, from £42.12m to £48.85m.

Turnover increased from £321.36m to £328.15m. The group is the second largest airports operator in the UK. Chief executive Geoff Muirhead, whose pay rise has provoked a chorus of protests, said two years of “rigorous rationalisation” had helped the group to weather the storm created by world events.

Manchester Airport saw a fall in passenger numbers last year, from 19 million to 18.6 million, and turnover dipped 1.7 per cent from £242m to £237.8m. But this was offset by increases at the group’s other gateways, boosted by the arrival of low-cost carriers.

Group passenger numbers rose 4.6 per cent to 23.2 million.

Developments at Manchester included new routes and airlines and additional frequencies on existing networks. It spent millions on upgrades to the passenger terminals.

The group’s chairman last year, Coun Bob Howarth, said the operator was well-positioned to deal with any further turbulence in the industry. But he warned: “Tough trading conditions can be expected to continue, as a result of which the group must continue to respond to any pressures in the same effective manner.”

The group is owned by Greater Manchester’s 10 authorities, sharing a dividend windfall of £5.5m. Manchester, owning 55 per cent, will receive the lion’s share.


04/11/2003

[Avman]

Same formula everywhere. Cut staff. Cut costs. Convert profits into fat cat didn't-I-do-well reward bonuses for the boys at the top. Real savings? Probably zero! :* :mad:

[DCS99]

they fixed the Travelator between T1 and T2!!

That's the only thing that would justify such a pay-rise!

[j17]

Heard a rumoer that the airport paid BA £500,000 for their Concord.

[john8b]

I understand that the £500,000 is for a state of the art building to house Alpha Charlie in

[P.Pilcher]

NOW we know why they are so enthusiastic in extracting the last penny from staff "illegally" parking in the staff carpark (if there still is one)

P.P.