I am in Canberra at the moment meeting with Parliamentarians who pledged support for the FSU’s Better Banking charter last year, as well as meeting with other key Parliamentarians, Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation Bill Shorten, Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey and Independent member Rob Oakeshott.

It has been fortuitous that our visit to the nation’s capital coincided with Parliamentary Secretary David Bradbury’s introduction of legislation to the Parliament that if passed would give shareholders more power to hold company executives and directors accountable, and gives them greater control over executive remuneration.

FSU welcomes this “two strikes” law as the disparity between executive pay and the pay of finance sector employees is something that both members and the general public feel very strongly about.

Our 2010 Better Banking survey indicated 83% of finance workers and 70% of the public and want the government to cap executive salaries.

Those results are not surprising when you take into account that in banking in particular, the average earnings of CEOs is one hundred times that of bank customer service employees. One hundred times. How on earth can anyone justify that?

The “two strikes” law is a step in the right direction, a point we are making with everyone we are meeting with in Canberra. Smooth passage of this legislation through both Houses will clear space for debate on how to further give shareholders power to peg executive remuneration so that it is more in line with community standards.

Leon Carter
FSU National Secretary