What can be done about the avaricious and selfish

Casdon

The government can’t just decide to buy out private organisations at huge cost to the taxpayer, that’s why the approach to water is as it is. I still think Thames Water will be nationalised in this parliament, but only when there is no other option because the company has failed. There are previous threads about this on Gransnet if you want the detail.

When industries were privatised by the post war Labour government they were paid for by issuing bonds to the owners. Which is a far cheaper option than a cash purchase. Bonds initially cost the government nothing and the interest payments on the bonds are spread out over the number of years specified by the bond issue.

It looks like a good solution, spreading the cost, if it is still possible to do today.

I am not against high salaries per se, as in the 21st century companies have to pay the going rate to attract the best.

They're not attracting 'the best', though, are they ?

These extraordinarily high salaries for CEOs are nodded through at AGMs by the majority of shareholders, predominantly institutions and the already very wealthy who really don't care about fairness in wage differentials so long as the company shares are paying them good dividends.

Big businesses have less interest in the pay and conditions of their 'ordinary' workers, their focus is satisfying their shareholders. Under the Companies Act 2006 directors have a 'duty of care to the company members (shareholders) but are only required to 'have regard to' stakeholders, i.e others with an interest in the company, such as employees, customers and suppliers.

Fallingstar

Grandmabatty

Water is under public ownership in Scotland. We do pay for it, but as part of our council tax. I don't see why England couldn't do the same. We have had a number of burst mains recently but Scottish Water have been busy fixing them.

That is as it should be.
Well done Scotland.

It’s similar in Wales, but it happened because the devolved administrations manage water, it was never sold off when it was in England. So, it is a different ballpark.

It is a bit frightening that there is privatised water in the UK . It really should be public, it should be for the benefit of everyone not foreign owners who want money. I wasn’t aware that it was private, when did that happen ? I’d bet my bottom dollar it was the milk snatcher ( Thatcher )

It’s not good for my blood pressure or well being to contemplate this profligacy so I don’t. No point getting my knickers in a twist as I can’t change anything about the situation.

Grandmabatty

Water is under public ownership in Scotland. We do pay for it, but as part of our council tax. I don't see why England couldn't do the same. We have had a number of burst mains recently but Scottish Water have been busy fixing them.

That is as it should be.
Well done Scotland.

Water is under public ownership in Scotland. We do pay for it, but as part of our council tax. I don't see why England couldn't do the same. We have had a number of burst mains recently but Scottish Water have been busy fixing them.

Surely a wealth tax would help with the expenses incurred renationalising water. But am aware our tax system isn’t fit for purpose, is clunky, antiquated, and full of holes. So firstly the tax system needs completely overhauling.

Selfishness:Prime Ministers who use a Government Jet to fly from London to Glasgow, then Glasgow to Manchester the following day.
Trips could have been made via train or standard air transport well within the time available.
No wonder Burnham said it was the 'happiest day of his life.'
Not for taxpayers.

Labour (Rachel Reeves) criticised Tories for Sunak's 'private jet habit'
and said Labour would seek to save taxpayers millions of pounds.
Ministerial Code: private planes should only be used when no other alternative is available.

Another here who thinks that the water industry should never have been privatised.

I am not against high salaries per se, as in the 21st century companies have to pay the going rate to attract the best.

What is becoming blatantly obvious, however is that despite paying water bosses huge salaries along with their bonuses, they do not seem to have attracted the best in their field.

Shareholders and pension funds are being payed whilst the infrastructure of our waterways and sewage systems are in decline.

Apparently £billions is peanuts these days! So much is/has been wasted.
It may seem a drastic option and would take time but it needs to be done.

As I understand it, taking water back under public ownership would cost the taxpayer billions, so where is the money to come from to build more sewage systems and stop the pollution issues we are suffering from? It seems like we're caught between a rock and a hard place.

It's not good to have utilities in foreign ownership that's not in our vested interest as a nation. The consumer suffers whilst as stated above, the profits are creamed off.

The government can’t just decide to buy out private organisations at huge cost to the taxpayer, that’s why the approach to water is as it is. I still think Thames Water will be nationalised in this parliament, but only when there is no other option because the company has failed. There are previous threads about this on Gransnet if you want the detail.

The privatisation of water companies should never have been allowed and subsequent Labour governments should have taken steps to reverse it.
Yes, access to water should be a basic human right and not an opportunity to make obscene profits, nor bosses rewarded for failure. Customers have no choice but to accept and put up with poor service while bosses and foreign investors cream off huge profits.

I hope Andy Burnham will tackle this as a priority.

Lathyrus3

The sooner water is taken under public control the better.

I was hopeful a Labour government would make it a priority.
I was disappointed.

I am also disappointed. Imho I believe making ‘our’ water a public asset should be high on Labour’s agenda.

The sooner water is taken under public control the better.

I was hopeful a Labour government would make it a priority.
I was disappointed.

Yes agree Oreo and depressingly because of the binding nature of contracts, it seems they're set in stone, why can't some clauses apply dependent on performance Managers of Health Trusts where overwhelming negligence has occurred on their watch are some of the worst imo and then they just move on to another lucrative position.

Paula Vennels is another who springs to mind she picked up a fair whack and the lives she ruined

TerriBull

Just agree! It's particularly depressing when massive pay awards/pay outs are given to those who just fail upwards. I would absolutely like the tax threshold raised for those who are on very basic money and far more taken off those who deliver a lousy service via a monetary sanction, but I know that won't happen.

I always wonder about the golden handshakes for failure!
I suppose it’s what is written in the contract and what the shareholders agree to.🤬

Just agree! It's particularly depressing when massive pay awards/pay outs are given to those who just fail upwards. I would absolutely like the tax threshold raised for those who are on very basic money and far more taken off those who deliver a lousy service via a monetary sanction, but I know that won't happen.

I heard this on r4 Today programme this week that CEOs are earning 130 times more than their staff.
Not double, treble, ten times as much, not 100 times as much, but 130 times as much.
Do we not all have pay the same for our daily bread, our pint if milk.
Where woukd these overpaid people be without the workers. It is truly obscene.

Totally agree.
Water is a human right not a privilege yet in our first world country families are suffering from water poverty, unable to afford to keep clean and drink water in the kind of heat we have recently had.
Only a very few countries have privatised water and the UK is one of them, pray Burnham nationalises the water in this country, it should never be in the hands of privateers out to make as much money as possible for their stakeholders.

My vicar said this in 2017.
Since then it has only got worse.

But then I read of people who think it is fine for bosses of charities to earn a lot of money.

It was then, at this point, that I personally gave up the fight.