Directors and managers of state-owned companies get up to 20% pay rise, thanks to a new ruling by the public wage counsel.
After the financial crash in the fall of 2008, and under the reign of the left-wing coalition government of the Social Democratic Alliance and the Left-Green Movement, Alþingi agreed on lowering public wages so that no director or manager would receive pay that exceeded the Prime Minister’s. As a result, 42 directors and managers of state-owned companies received pay-cuts in February of 2010.
At the end of June this year, roughly one month after the coalition of the Progressive Party and the Independence Party came into power, the public wage counsel ruled that the directors and managers should get a pay rise, and that it was so long overdue that the change should date back to August 1st 2012, RÚV reports.
By that time, the wage index had risen 17.7% since February 2010. Some of the directors receive about 6.5-13% rise but some as much as 20%.
The highest paid director of a state-owned company is Hörður Arnarson, CEO of power harnessing company Landsvirkjun. He receives a pay check of little over 1.6 million ISK a month from now on, having received a rise of 21% because of the new ruling.
Central Bank manager Már Guðmundsson, who lost the lawsuit he filed against the state when his wages were cut down by 40% in 2010, now gets a 20% pay rise with over 1.5 million ISK monthly pay.
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