来源：《卫报》
原文刊登日期：2020年12月16日
A report by the High Pay Centre thinktank has revealed that Tim Steiner, the chief executive of Ocado, last year earned £58.7m. This astonishing rate of pay is 2,605 times the average wage of one of his employees, which stands at £22,500. Put another way, 24 hours of Mr Steiner’s time is allegedly worth about 10 years of hard work from an average Ocado worker.
高薪中心智库的一份报告显示，Ocado首席执行官蒂姆•施泰纳去年的收入为5870万英镑。这一惊人的工资水平是其员工22500英镑平均工资的2605倍。换句话说，施泰纳先生24小时的工作时间相当于一名普通奥卡多工人10年的辛勤工作。
The Covid pandemic has, of course, been a boom time for digital businesses. An online grocery delivery company, Ocado has profited hugely from an accelerated shift to internet shopping. This came on top of years of steady growth. No doubt, Mr Steiner’s talents and judgment have played a part in this success story. It is, however, equally certain that he has simply ridden the good fortune of having a top job in the right sector at the right time. In a fair society, no slice of luck should ever be worth this much.
当然，新冠疫情是互联网企业的繁荣时期。作为一家在线杂货配送公司，Ocado从加速向网上购物的转变中获利颇丰。这是在多年稳定增长的基础上实现的。毫无疑问，施泰纳的才华和判断力在这个成功故事中起到了一定作用。然而，同样可以肯定的是，他只是利用了好运气，在正确的时间在正确的领域担任了最高职位。在一个公平的社会里，任何一分运气都不应该值这么多钱。
The High Pay Centre’s analysis reveals that the biggest pay gaps in the British economy are found in retail, where the CEO employee ratio is 140:1. But the figures reflect more broadly an explosion in executive pay over recent decades. In the UK’s 100 biggest stock market-listed companies, chief executives pocket 73 times the amount paid to workers on average. Forty years ago, the ratio was 18:1. Since the financial crash, this shameless self-enrichment by the wealthiest in society has taken place as average wages have stagnated and, in many cases, fallen in real terms.
高薪中心的分析显示，英国经济中薪酬差距最大的行业是零售业，CEO与员工的薪酬比是140:1。但这些数字更广泛地反映了近几十年来高管薪酬的爆炸式增长。在英国最大的100家上市公司中，首席执行官的收入是员工平均收入的73倍。40年前，这个比例是18:1。自金融危机以来，随着平均工资停滞不前，而且在许多情况下，按实际价值计算，还出现了下降，社会上最富有人群的这种无耻的自我敛财行为就发生了。
Most recently, of course, Covid-19 has tipped millions into economic crisis. The details of Mr Steiner’s pay were disclosed on the same day that it emerged that 800,000 people have lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic. As the working poor resort to food banks in ever larger numbers, Unicef has launched an emergency response in Britain for the first time. The UN aid agency will channel over £700,000 to food insecure households across the country.
当然，最近，新冠疫情让数百万人陷入了经济危机。施泰纳薪酬细节披露的同一天，有80万人因疫情失去了工作。由于越来越多的穷人求助于食品银行，联合国儿童基金会首次在英国启动了紧急响应。联合国援助机构将向全英各地缺乏粮食保障的家庭提供70万英镑的援助。
This gulf between the top and bottom of our society is not inevitable. It is immoral. Last spring, it was generally recognised that delivery drivers, along with care workers, supermarket staff and refuse collectors, were crucial to the nation’s wellbeing, but poorly paid. The public mood suggested there was a desire that something should eventually be done about this.
社会上层和底层之间的这种鸿沟并非不可避免。这是不道德的。去年春天，人们普遍认为，快递司机、护工、超市员工和垃圾清理工对国家的福祉至关重要，但他们的工资却很低。公众的情绪表明，人们希望最终对此采取一些措施。
It is therefore depressing to note that while Ocado van drivers were merely earning praises, their CEO was sitting on the more tangible reward of £58.7m. The notion of regulating the pay ratio between chief executives and employees has been raised in the past. If a better, more cohesive Britain is to emerge post-Covid, it urgently needs to be revisited.
因此，令人沮丧的是，Ocado货车司机仅仅赢得了掌声，但他们的首席执行官却坐拥5870万英镑的更切实的报酬。监管首席执行官与员工薪酬比率的想法在过去曾被提过。如果一个更好、更有凝聚力的英国要在新冠疫情后出现，就迫切需要重提这个想法。