Icelandic Union Proposes All Workers Get Same Pay Rise As Company Director

In response to yet another astronomical pay rise for yet another corporate head, a labour union has proposed all the company workers get their share, too.

Vísir reported yesterday that Eggert Þór Kristófersson, the director of fuel station company N1, saw his salary go to 5.8 million ISK per month last year, after a pay rise of some 20.6% between 2016 and 2017.

In response, the Reykjavík Merchant’s Union (VR), has proposed that all N1 employees also receive a 20.6% pay rise.

“If the company is being so well run and profiting so greatly that it’s considered natural to give a portion of this to those who run the company so well, then it would be natural that those who are actually performing the labour that keeps the company running be rewarded the same way,” a statement from VR reads in part. “This is fair and natural.”

As such, they have formally submitted a proposal to the board of N1 asking for the same rise for all workers.

“The largest shareholders of N1 are the pension funds of working people,” the statement continues. “It should be a natural demand that precisely those hard-working employees who work for N1 should also enjoy the fruits of their labour, especially when business is going so well that the company believes it acceptable to pay its director a salary comparable to the highest-paid bank directors in the country.”

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