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Communisis chiefs head pay rise table

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The release of a report revealing that two Communisis executives were among the highest paid in the country in 2002 has come at a bad time for the group as GPMU members at Waddington Labels voted for industrial action.

According to the report from the Labour Research Department, a union-funded organisation, former Communisis chairman Stuart Wallis, who retired last April, received the largest increase of any top executive in percentage terms (1,818%) with his 1.92m salary.

The groups chief executive, David Jones, came second in percentage increase terms with his 2.13m earnings in 2002, up 757%. Average executive pay grew by 12.4%.

Last year Jones and Wallis shared a 3m-plus bonus under an incentive scheme based on the figure by which the groups total shareholder return (TSR) outperformed the TSR of an equivalent investment in the FTSE.

The performance-related scheme was put in place to compensate for their comparatively low basic salaries.

But GPMU deputy general secretary Tony Burke said their earnings were absolutely staggering considering that last year union members had faced job losses and cuts in pay and conditions.

It seems that the Champagne corks have not stopped popping in some boardrooms, added Burke.

The ballot returned by 42 GPMU members at Waddington Labels in Gateshead showed that 37 were in favour of industrial action unless pay and conditions were improved.

Neither Jones nor Communisis finance director Aidan Hughes were available for comment as PrintWeek went to press.

Top of the executive salary table was Christopher Mills, chief executive of investment trust North Atlantic Smaller Companies, with earnings of 4.9m.