Fat Cat Day: Injustice of the board salaries revealed!

Fat Cat Day: Injustice of the board salaries revealed!

Österreich - On January 8, 2025, the "Fat Cat Day" is celebrated in Austria, a day that puts the exorbitant salaries of the leading ATX companies in the spotlight. On this day, the CEOs already earned as much as an average worker throughout the year based on a median income of 38,748 euros. It is particularly alarming that it is enough for the CEO of only working four working days with an average hourly wage of 814 euros, which corresponds to about 48 hours, as the Chamber of Labor (AK) notes. This illustrates the considerable income inequality between the top managers and the employees who often do not receive the same recognition for their hard work.

gigantic manager salaries

In 2023, the average remuneration of an ATX CEO was over an impressive 3.1 million euros-an increase of 16.4 percent compared to the previous year. This corresponds to 81 times the median income, while the income of the employees only grew by 7.8 percent. Top earners among the so -called "Fat Cats" are the managing director of Schoeller Bleckmann Oilfield Equipment AG, Gerald Grohmann, with a whopping 9.5 million euros, and Anas Abuzaakouk from Bawag Group AG, who earns 9 million euros. These managers can be reached with their salaries after less than two days of work.

The AK also calls for a fairer distribution of income and a limitation of the board remuneration to ensure more transparency and fairness in corporate management. In contrast, the industrial association (IV) sees the statements of the AK as a envy debate, which does not consider the managers' general services. In addition, the interest association for investors (IVA) argues that the salaries of managers are not internationally high and that lower salaries would endanger the competitiveness of companies. This heated discussion shows how strongly the opinions about the appropriateness of the manager salaries diverge and underlines the need for a deeper discussion of the distribution of income in Austria, such as more information about the current situation on Leadersnet and Chamber of Labor .