London 2012 bosses defend pay and packages 22/10/2009 |
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London 2012 Olympic chiefs were forced to defend their salaries and bonuses Wednesday at a time when other public sector workers were threatened with job cuts and pay freezes during the economic downturn.
John Armitt, chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), the organisation responsible for ensuring preparations for the Games stay on track, said he would not defer his bonus and would not expect his chief executive David Higgins to do so either.
The ODA's annual accounts in July revealed Higgins was awarded a 200,000 pound ($330,800) bonus this year on top of his 384,000 pound salary.
They also showed he had voluntarily deferred half his bonus until no later than December 2012 subject to the Games being delivered on time and within budget.
Armitt is on a 250,000 pound package for a three-day week plus evening work.
Members of the London Assembly asked whether all the bonus would be deferred.
Armitt said: "I do not think we should put any pressure on him (Higgins) whatsoever to actually defer what he has earned," he said.
Armitt said he did not think it reasonable to expect people to take a reduction in their bonuses when they had met their targets.
They were also questioned on how 2.6 million pounds ($4.30 million) could be spent on salaries and bonuses when the overall Olympic budget had spiralled from an initial estimate of 2.6 billion pounds to 9.3 billion pounds ($15.38 billion).
"You have to employ what are without doubt some of the best people in the industry," Armitt said.
Many people had left good jobs for ones that are likely to finish before 2012, and had forfeited lucrative pensions, and should be "properly and sensibly" paid with a bonus structure, Armitt added.
He said he would not be readjusting his or other directors' terms and conditions despite the recession.
"I'm not expecting sympathy from someone who's getting 20,000 pounds a year for someone who is getting 250,000 pounds a year," Armitt said.
"But at the end of the day we are in a market economy and we pay people according to the salaries which they can demand according to the skills which they have.
"And I am sorry that I am not prepared to consider reducing mine and I certainly would not dream of suggesting that we should reduce the chief executive's or any of the other directors."
(Source: Reuters)
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