Nice work if you can get it

The bosses of unions that represent public sector workers are sitting pretty, says The Times. The highest paid among them in 2020 was Tim Roache, former general secretary of the GMB, who received total remuneration of £288,000. That includes gross salary, but also employers’ national insurance, pension contributions and other benefits such as a car, health insurance and housing allowance. Roache, who stepped down in July 2021, is also in line for “an £80,000 payment for long service, and a £500,000 lump sum”. The second-highest earner was Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, whose employers paid £216,387, while Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the British Medical Association, cost his union £203,633. In total, 30 union bosses – four of them employed by the Fire Brigades Union – received total remuneration of more than £100,000.