Anger at 103% pay rise for Corus boss who sacked 6,000 workers

The steel producer Corus reignited the row over "fat cat" directors yesterday with the news that the chairman's pay had more than doubled last year while 6,000 workers were sacked.

Sir Brian Moffat's salary rose by 103 per cent in 2001 even though Corus, formerly known as British Steel, made a £385m loss, scrapped dividend payments to shareholders and froze the wages of its remaining staff.

The annual report and accounts show Sir Brian received a total of £580,542 in 2001. This compares with the £356,660 he was paid for the preceding 15 months and works out at an increase in monthly pay from £23,777 to £48,378.

Union leaders expressed disgust at the pay rise. Eddie Lynch, the assistant general secretary of the ISTC, the main steelworkers' union, described the increase as "completely outrageous and unjustifiable". He said: "It is absolutely disgusting that at a time when our members were being thrown on to the streets, the executives had their noses in the troughs. We thought we had seen the last of the fat cats but Sir Brian has proved that there are still some hanging on by their claws. What kind of example is this setting to our members?"

Corus defended the increase, saying Sir Brian had taken on extra executive duties from December 2000 after the sacking of the two former joint chief executives, John Bryant and Fokko van Duyne. They received £2m in compensation between them.

The company, formed from the merger of British Steel and Hoogovens of the Netherlands in 1999, pointed out that none of its directors had earnedperformance-related bonuses last year. These are payable only if the company makes profits of £300m or more. Tony Pedder, the chief executive of Corus, received £434,047, which works out at a monthly increase of 12 per cent.

The row follows the disclosure last month that the chief executive of BP, Lord Browne of Madingley, received a 48 per cent pay increase last year, taking his total package to £6.8m, even though his company's profits fell.