The average salary for 150 of India’s highest-paid CEOs was USD 1 million in 2022, a real-term pay increase of 2% from 2021.

According to new research from Oxfam released on International Workers’ Day, employees, on average, worked six days “for free” in 2022 because their pay lagged behind inflation. In contrast, actual income for top executives increased by 9% (16% if not adjusted for inflation) in India, the UK, the US, and South Africa.

Compared to 2022, when salaries had stayed up with inflation, one billion workers across 50 nations lost an average of USD 685 in real wages.

The report also estimated that women and girls perform at least 380 billion hours of unpaid care work every month.

Because of their unpaid care duties, women workers frequently have to work fewer paid hours or leave the workforce altogether. Nevertheless, the findings revealed that they still experience harassment, salary disparity for labour of equivalent value to men, and gender-based discrimination.

“Corporate executives give themselves and their shareholder’s enormous bonuses while telling us we should keep wages low,” said Amitabh Behar, interim executive director of Oxfam International, while adding that most people work harder for less money and need help to keep up with rising living expenses.

The wealth gap between the wealthy and the rest of society has expanded due to years of austerity and attacks on trade unions.

The only increase that workers have noticed is in the amount of unpaid caregiving that women do, according to Behar. The community and those at home perform this backbreaking and worthwhile labour for no pay.

In contrast, shareholder dividends reached a record USD 1.56 trillion in 2022, a 10% real growth over 2021.

The treatment of employees as lambs for the slaughter each time a crisis arises has grown stale. Instead, according to neoliberal ideology, Behar stated, everyone but profit-driven firms is to blame for inflation.

“Governments should stop depending solely on interest rate increases and austerity measures, which, as we all know, harms regular people, especially people with low incomes,” the official remarked further.

Instead, Behar suggested that they implement top tax rates of at least 75% on highly wealthy corporate executives to discourage excessive CEO compensation and windfall taxes on absurd business profits.

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The report is based on data compiled by employees. The data contains details of salary and bonus for 2017 that were shared by about 1,200 employees based in the US.
This number, according to the report, constitutes about 2 percent of the company’s global work force.

Google has said that the data does not portray the correct picture as it does not account for location; whether an employee is in a technical position, which commands a premium; and performance.

This defence is unlikely to save the company from scrutiny by various gender equality advocates and activists, shareholders, investors and people in general.

Also Read: Poor in gender diversity
The diversity dividend

What may go against Google is that the company is generally perceived as one of the best places to work globally. Hence, critics could wave the NYT report to highlight this and other shortcomings, however minute, at the Mountain View, California headquartered company.

This case is a good example of the perils of being in the spotlight constantly. Google has been reporting very good financials and has been growing consistently.
And, with around 60,000 employees worldwide, pay gaps would be inevitable.

The company is quite likely to pay an employee posted at Mountain View more than one in the same rank posted in India, where the cost of living is relatively cheaper.

According to Google’s annual diversity report, women constitute 31% of its work force and 20% of its technical positions are filled by women.

It must be mentioned that, in tech companies, people in technical positions draw higher pay than in say marketing or HR. But disparity in pay for the same position is another thing. Add gender into this equation, and the issue gets even bigger.

In fact, the US Labor Department has been seeking data from the company in this regard. The company went to court complaining that the Labor Department is asking for more data than necessary.

The NYT report could aggravate this confrontation.

There is a bit of irony here. Millions of companies get away with pay disparities but a company that is perceived as a good place to work faces intense scrutiny.
Perhaps, the battles in lesser known companies are not publicised as much as the one at Google.

The NYT article is definitely getting a lot of traction and comments on the Internet, social media and in tech circles.

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January 27, 2017: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that he would keep pitching a multinational trade pact that US President Donald Trump’s administration has vowed to exit. Abe added that he would like to strengthen US-Japan ties as the new administration takes over.

“I believe President Trump understands the importance of free and fair trade. So I’d like to pursue his understanding on the strategic and economic importance of the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) trade pact,” Abe told a session of parliament’s lower house.

Donald Trump took office on January 20 and his new administration’s strategy is to protect American jobs, which would start with the withdrawal from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact.

Trump signed an executive order in the Oval Office pulling the United States out of the 12-nation TPP. “We’re going to stop the ridiculous trade deals that have taken everybody out of our country and taken companies out of our country,” the President said as he met union leaders in the White House’s Roosevelt Room. “Great thing for the American worker,” Trump said as he signed the order on his third full day in office. The Republican says the trade deal would have damaged US manufacturing.

The TPP has been signed by America but is yet to be ratified. On the other hand, Japan has already ratified the TPP while New Zealand is in the process of completing domestic procedures for the pact. During his campaign Trump sparked worries in Tokyo and the rest of the Asia-Pacific with comments which included a pledge to make allies pay more for the security provided by US forces and opposition to the TPP trade deal.

“The Japan-US alliance has been is and will be the cornerstone of our country’s diplomatic and security policies. This is an immutable principle,” Abe said in his policy speech at the start of the regular parliament session. “I am aiming to visit the United States as soon as possible to further fortify the bond of alliance together with new President Trump.”

Trump is also in the process of renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in an attempt to make it more favourable for America.

Neighbour Mexico is preparing to discuss changes to trade rules about a product’s country of origin to try to avoid a disruptive fight with the United States over commerce. Mexico sees possible common ground with US President Donald Trump on the ‘rules of origin’ of the NAFTA that binds the two countries and Canada.

Rules of origin are regulations setting out where trade products are sourced from. Although formal negotiations about NAFTA have not begun, the rules could eventually be altered to favour US industry over competitors from outside North America, particularly in Asia.

During his electoral campaign, Trump expressed his strong desire to scrap NAFTA as he felt that the agreement was much more beneficial to other parties and not the US.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto planned a visit to the US to discuss these developments. However, on Thursday Trump asked his Mexican counterpart to stay at home if Mexico is not willing to pay for the wall along their border that the US President plans to build.

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October 13, 2016: Alipay, the world’s leading mobile payment platform run by Ant Financial Services Group, has partnered with Zapper, the fast growing consumer insights and marketing platform which is enabled by mobile payments. This partnership will allow over 250,000 Chinese tourists visiting the UK to pay using the Alipay app in over 1,000 locations nationwide.

Zapper is the first European mobile partner, allowing over 450 million active Alipay users to pay via the Alipay app across its full estate of affiliated Zapper businesses in the UK, Europe and North America. The partnership demonstrates a strong synergy between both brands in terms of innovative and mobile based QR code technology. With over 85% of mobile payments in China currently made by scanning a QR code, the customer journey will be identical for Alipay users when purchasing goods and services using Zapper.

“With Zapper as a partner, Alipay can further enhance our user experience as they can conveniently shop outside of China and pay with Alipay,” Rita Liu, Head of Alipay EMEA, said. “Meanwhile, merchants, in addition to the Alipay payment solution, can better connect and understand hundreds of thousands of Chinese tourists travelling to the UK.”

Scanning a QR code to make simple and secure payments has been the ‘norm’ with Alipay users in China for the last 12 years. Zapper currently provides a similar experience for its near 1 million users across 10 different countries and 12,000 affiliated businesses. With Zapper’s smart QR technology enabled to take payments from the Alipay app, 11.7 million Chinese tourists visiting Europe each year will be able to conveniently pay using Alipay at any venue also accepting Zapper.

Zapper has tie-ups with thousands of restaurants internationally.

Gerry Hooper, CEO Zapper UK & Ireland, said, “This is an incredibly exciting opportunity for us, pioneering the way by combining our synonymous QR code payment technology. A huge development enabling Chinese tourists to seamlessly continue using the highly popular Alipay app when travelling to the UK and our partnered Zapper venues to appeal more favorably to travelling Alipay users and stand out from the competition.”

According to VisitBritain, more than 250,000 Chinese tourists visited the UK in 2015, an increase in 45% from the previous year and spending a total of £586.22m. With an ever-increasing demand to visit the UK, this gives venues such as Burger & Lobster, CAU, The Big Easy, Vinoteca, Camino and Iberica, already benefiting from Zapper, the ability to strengthen their appeal to the Chinese market.

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