Thursday 23 June 2022 02:26 PM The union fat cats who make four-times their members' salaries trends now
A group of union barons threatening to spark a summer of discontent in Britain are raking in six-figure pay deals - some four-times higher than the workers they are leading to the picket line - MailOnline can reveal.
Analysis shows how union chiefs are raking in staggering salaries, topped up with bumper benefit packages - including travel costs and sizeable pension contributions.
Despite preaching 'solidarity', and in some cases seven 'socialism', some are earning upwards of £100,000-a-year.
In some cases this is nearly four times the salaries of their workers, who stand to lose vital income by going on strike.
Mick Lynch, who heads up the militant RMT, a union which has crippled the country by calling a national rail strike, is on a sizeable £124,000-a-year package as General Secretary.
And he has reportedly earned earned £763,000 in salary and benefits since joining the RMT in 2015.
Meanwhile, the average salary of rail workers is around £31,772, according to the latest ONS data.
His fellow rail union baron, Manuel Cortes, of the TSSA, raked in a total remuneration of £121,773 in 2020, including £18,151 in pension contributions.
He is also currently at the centre of a sexual harassment row following claims by a former organiser that he harassed her during a Christmas party in 2018.
Cortes vehemently denies harassment and has apologised for any hurt caused by his behaviour.
Last month, The Guardian reported that the union had enforced a non-disclosure agreement to stop the female employee repeating sexual harassment claims against Mr Cortes.
Mick Lynch (pictured), who heads up the militant RMT, a union which has crippled the country by calling a national rail strike, is on a sizeable £124,000-a-year package as General Secretary
Manuel Cortes (pictured), of the TSSA, raked in a total remuneration of £121,773 in 2020, including £18,151 in pension contributions
According to the NEU's own publically available data, released earlier this year, the General Secretaries of the union, Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney (pictured), were paid £219,848 in respect of salary and £46,982 in respect of benefits for the 12 months ended August 2021
Meanwhile, his union, which have warned of strike action but have not yet joined the national strike, yesterday accepted a 7.1 per cent pay deal with MerseyRail.
The TSSA union announced it has accepted the 'reasonable' offer from the operator - overseen by Liverpool metro mayor Steve Rotheram.
But Government sources slammed Labour-run MerseyRail of 'rolling over' to union demands.
Other unions outside the rail industry have also warned of potential strike action later this year, including two teaching unions.
The National Education Union (NEU) said it would consult its members in the autumn and 'strongly encouraging them' to back industrial action if the government does not respond to its concerns over high workloads and pay in the next few months.
The union has two joint general secretaries, Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney.
According to the NEU's own publically available data, released earlier this year, the General Secretaries of the union were paid £219,848 in respect of salary and £46,982 in respect of benefits for the 12 months ended August 2021.
Meanwhile, the average Full Time Equivalent salary for the 461,088 teachers in state-funded schools was £41,800 per year according to the Government's School Workforce in England Report in 2019.
The average salary for a classroom teacher was £38,400 - though unqualified teachers earn anywhere between £18,169 and £28,735.
Mr Courtney, a former leader of the Socialist Teachers Alliance, and Ms Bousted earlier this week wrote to Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi, telling him he must show school staff they are valued by providing 'undifferentiated inflation-plus pay rises for all teachers'.
In the letter the pair said that if a suitable offer is not provided by the autumn term that members will be ballotted on 'their willingness to take industrial action'.
They said: 'We will strongly be encouraging them to vote yes. We can no longer stand by while you run education and educators into the ground'.
Teaching union NASWUT has also said it will ballot members on industrial action if staff are not given a 12 per cent pay rise.
NASWUT is headed-up by Dr Patrick Roach, who according to figures by the TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) had a pay deal of £185,111 between 2020 and 2021 - making him one of the highest paid union chiefs that year.
Top of the TPA's 'fat cat' list last year was GMB General Secretary Tim Roache, who stepped down last year. He walked away with a staggering final year package of £288,000.
It comes Royal Mail workers are being egged on to strike by the Communication Workers Union, who are calling for a 'no-strings' pay rise.
The union became the latest to warn of potential strikes yesterday. It said workers would vote in the coming weeks on whether to mount a campaign of industrial action.
The union said it was planning industrial action due to Royal Mail's 'inadequate' 2 per cent pay award offer.
Around 115,000 Communication Workers Union (CWU) members will be voting on the industrial action.
The union's General Secretary is Dave Ward, who enjoyed a pay deal of £143,000 in the year ending December 2019 - the latest figures available from the TaxPayers' Alliance.
Ward backed Jeremy Corbyn in Labour's 2019 election defeat. Writing ahead of the vote on Twitter, he said: 'Winning this election and changing the country for the better isn't just down to Jeremy Corbyn.
'Unions, activists and working people have to step up if we want to #DitchTheTories
'I pledge to campaign, have those difficult conversations and leave nothing behind. You with me?'.
While Ward enjoys a tidy £143,000 pay deal, the average wage for a postal worker in the UK is £24,596, according to GlassDoor.
Meanwhile, the British Medical Association (BMA) has warned that it could launch another junior doctors strike.
The union is headed up by Dr Chaand Nagpaul, who is the Council chair and general secretary.
According to the TaxPayers' Alliance, Dr Nagpaul raked in a remuneration package of £203,633 in the year to 2021.
The figure represents an increase of 5 per cent on the previous year. His salary of £180,000 was over six times what a foundation (FY1) doctor earned in 2021 (£28,808).
His union has called on the government to compensate junior doctors for the real-term pay cuts suffered since 2008.
And the union said that if its demands were not met within six months, it could hold a ballot on industrial action early in 2023.
Junior doctors can earn between £29,384 to £34,012 according to the NHS, but salaries beyond junior level differ wildly - sometimes up into the hundreds of thousands.
According to Talent.com the average doctors salary in the United Kingdom is £72,000 per year, while ONS figures show the average wage for medical practitioners is £56,869.
According to the NHS specialty doctor earn a basic salary of £50,373 to £78,759, and up to £91,584 as a specialist grade doctor. Constants can earn up to £114,003 per year.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN), which represents almost half a million healthcare workers, has also said it is considering industrial action.
It says a pay rise five percentage points above inflation is needed to retain staff and attract recruits to the profession.
The union says it is waiting to see the recommendations of the NHS pay review body, and the government's response, before deciding on a course of action.
NASWUT is headed-up by Dr Patrick Roach (pictured), who according to figures by the TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) had a pay deal of £185,111 between 2020 and 2021 - making him one of the highest paid union chiefs that year
It comes Royal Mail workers are being egged on to strike by the Communication Workers Union,
