Saturday, 4 April 2009

They are Town Clerks, not CEOs, OK?

I just saw this over at the Kitchen:
Annual wages:

Chief Executive Merthyr Council (2009-2010 Budget £104 million):

£131,500

Chief Executive Ofcom (2009-2010 Budget £136.8 million):

£417,500

Chief Executive NASA (2009-2010 Budget $19.7 billion / £13.3 billion):

$177,000 / £119,000

Just sayin'

Can we just stop this nonsense of Councils calling their head "CEO"? They don't sell to anyone, they have a captive market, they are rent-seekers, protection racketeers, ponces. A State-commissioned monopoly. A CEO could lose their market and the organisation taken over - these people are just bureaucrats. The job was, is and should be called "Town Clerk". Once they are called what they really are - Town Clerks - the stupid salaries will be far harder to justify.

And who said that Capitalism and Bankers were "greedy"?

3 comments:

Dick Puddlecote said...

Very good observation Roger. In the 80s my local council used to term the top man "Town Clerk of the Chief Executive", meaning he served the Mayor (or councillors).

Mark Wadsworth said...

Excellent point. CEO is an awful Americanism to boot.

Anonymous said...

Just got back from a business trip to the US where everybody is either a Vice President or a Chief something-or-other. Absolutely meaningless titles used to puff up the bearer's self-importance.