A boss of a company in the Bel 20, the index which includes the 20 main companies listed on the Brussels Stock Exchange, will have already earned at the end of the day, and since the start of the year, as much as a Belgian worker in one year, denounces the CNE on Wednesday for which this January 8 is therefore “CEO Jackpot Day” in Belgium.
The Christian union bases itself, to establish the date of this day “symbolic“, on figures: those linked to the remuneration of CEOs of the Bel 20 (median salary of 2.8 million per year) and those linked to the median salary of Belgian workers, estimated at 3,739.07 euros gross per month. Based on these 2023 figures, it therefore takes 4.8 days of work for a CEO of a Bel 20 company to earn the equivalent of one year’s salary of the median Belgian worker.
Still according to CNE calculations, a CEO of a Bel 20 company earns 54 times the median salary. “The gap is even more glaring with the minimum wage. In 2023, the minimum wage (guaranteed average monthly minimum income) is 1,954.99 euros. A Bel 20 CEO earns nearly 120 times the minimum wage. He earned as much as a minimum wage worker after less than 2.2 days of work“, castigates the Christian union.
The CNE also looked at the evolution of salaries. “Between 2014 and 2023, the median remuneration of CEOs in the BEL 20 increased by 74.6% while the median salary only increased by 25.6% and the minimum salary by 30.2% (including inflation figures). This shows very clearly that not all salaries are in the same boat.“, for the CNE. “While salary increases for most workers are blocked by the wage freeze law (1996 Competitiveness Act), the salaries of BEL 20 CEOs have soared in recent years.”
Taking offense at the plans on the table of Arizona negotiators aimed at limiting wage indexation, the Christian union persists: “to reduce inequalities and increase the share of wealth that goes to workers, we want, on the contrary, to abolish the wage blocking law to obtain increases in gross wages and we want to maintain and extend the indexation of wages.”
Belga – Photo : Belga
