Too rich a public servant?

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TOO WELL PAID FOR THE PUBLIC TO HANDLE?

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LONDON - Council chiefs in England and Wales have refused to disclose the salaries of thousands of senior staff, claiming it would lead to a public outcry.

Last summer, the government announced plans to publish the names and salaries of "senior employees" at public bodies who earn over 50,000 ($109,760) a year. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called the increasingly generous remuneration of council executives "unacceptable".

But the local authorities claimed that the pay disclosures would leave their staff subjected to "personalised attacks and mischief making". For instance, Wandsworth borough council warned that "families could be at risk of abuse and children of bullying due to press misrepresentation of data".

Mr Mark Wallace, the campaign director of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said it was "pure emotional blackmail to claim that anyone's children could be threatened by improved pay transparency in local government".

Now, rather than tens of thousands of local authority workers having their salaries published, just 114 council staff, most of them chief executives, will have to disclose their pay. The Daily Telegraph

From TODAY, Friday, 19-Feb-2010

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