We are paid too much, UK bankers confess

[n2doc]

As politicians shift ground on high earners, City workers admit public sector gets raw deal
MATT THOMAS, BRIAN BRADY SUNDAY 06 NOVEMBER 2011


A survey of 500 workers in City financial institutions, carried out for the Christian think-tank St Paul's Institute, found that "a substantial number" believed they were overpaid compared with other professions – particularly frontline workers including teachers and, most of all, nurses.

The results will fuel continuing bitterness towards the industry over its culpability for the financial crisis and its apparent failure to rein in huge salaries and bonuses . Last night The Sunday Times reported the publicly owned Royal Bank of Scotland is planning to pay its investment bankers about £500m in bonuses.

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, yesterday joined the attack on bankers' pay, claiming excesses in the financial sector had helped to create huge inequalities in wealth, "demonstrating how scandalously unfair our society is".

The Independent on Sunday revealed last week that St Paul's had suppressed the report following the resignation of Canon Chancellor Giles Fraser, amid fears that it would inflame tensions over the Occupy London protest outside the the cathedral.

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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/we-are-paid-too-much-bankers-confess-in-st-pauls-survey-6258032.html

[xchrom]

1. recommend

[PDJane]

2. And the last time I looked,

they weren't paid as much as bankers stateside.

[BeyondGeography]

3. Agreed, but the focus on the public sector misses a huge part of the story

Employees in the private sector are regularly screwed by their owners who work in tandem with banks to engineer fee-rich deals that plow cash into the hands of a few and leave employees to pick up the pieces, most often with expanded work at no extra pay. Without the comfort of any defined benefit pension as well.

[lonestarnot]

4. Not missed.

[theaocp]

5. Perhaps they're finally realizing

their safety and that of those they hold dear is in danger from those they are oppressing. Bubbles have a way of popping, you know? Let's see if they put their "money" where their mouths are.