The researchers calculate that, when pay and pensions are taken together, average remuneration in the public sector is 12% higher than in the private sector.

ECONOMIST: Strikes and pensions

By contrast, over that same period the remuneration package for the average chief executive doubled to a level 116 times that of the average worker.

ECONOMIST: Labour��s seeds of discontent

They have compared the average basic salary of our employees to a remuneration package awarded to the CEO that includes salary, bonus and benefits.

BBC: High pay of UK executives corrosive, report says

According to research also carried out by the corporate governance advisory group, Manifest, the average level of dissent registered in all explicit votes on remuneration was 11.7% - which was up from 9.6% in the previous year, but significantly below the dissent levels of 16% and 12.4% seen in 2002 and 2003 respectively.

BBC: The myth of a shareholder spring