Archbishop Sentamu, the second most important figure in the Church of England, said that excesses in the financial sector have helped to create huge inequalities in wealth, "demonstrating how scandalously unfair our society is".
Writing in the Yorkshire Post, Dr Sentamu called for a change in public attitudes towards excessive personal wealth as profound and rapid as moves against racism, homophobia and sex discrimination in recent decades.
He said: "If they [FTSE 100 chief executives] have a responsibility to their staff, it is hard to imagine a more powerful way of telling someone that they are of little value than to pay them one-third of one per cent of your salary.
"Top pay has been found to bear little or no relation to company performance, but even if it did, isn't the performance of a company dependent on the work and well-being of all its staff?
"Among the ill-effects of very large income differences between rich and poor are that they weaken community life and make societies less cohesive." » | Saturday, November 05, 2011
YORKSHIRE POST: Sentamu hits out at greed culture of fat cats: THE Archbishop of York has urged the Government to introduce a radical overhaul of the tax system and called for greed to be made as socially unacceptable as racism and homophobia. ¶ Dr John Sentamu claimed many of the wealthiest in society are avoiding paying their dues in a stinging attack on the growing divide between Britain’s rich and poor. » | Saturday, November 05, 2011
YORKSHIRE POST: WITH renewed public outrage at the excesses of the financial sector and the huge inequalities in wealth it has helped to generate, we are being confronted daily with new evidence of extremes of wealth and poverty, demonstrating how scandalously unfair our society is.
But how is this to be addressed? This is the urgent task for us all. The news that chief executives (CEOs) of the FTSE 100 companies last year received average pay increases of almost 50 per cent adds urgency to our cause.
Typically, these CEOs receive 300 times as much as the least well paid British employees in their companies. If they have a responsibility to their staff, it is hard to imagine a more powerful way of telling some people that they are of little value than to pay them one-third of one per cent of your own salary.
Top pay has been found to bear little or no relation to company performance, but even if it did, isn’t the performance of a company dependent on the work and well-being of all its staff?
Among the ill effects of very large income differences between rich and poor are that they weaken community life and make societies less cohesive.
If the concept of the Big Society is to become a reality, so that people come to know and take more care of each other, income differences must surely be reduced. No one wants a “dog eat dog” society in which people feel obliged simply to fend for themselves.
But over the last few decades, the gains from economic growth have gone disproportionately to those who already have most. In contrast, forecasts suggest that child poverty will increase. The danger is that rather than increasing equality of opportunity, social mobility will slow down and people will become more divided by class and status. » | Dr. John Sentamu | Saturday, November 05, 2011
