A pay package for an oil boss worth almost £14million was today branded “obscene”.
BP chief executive Bob Dudley was facing shareholders today amid investor anger over his £13.8million ($19.6m) deal when they gather for the oil giant’s annual general meeting.
Mr Dudley’s salary has risen by a fifth on the previous year, despite the group posting its largest annual loss for 20 years and axing thousands of jobs worldwide.
Shareholders are expected to vote within the next hour whether to approve or reject his pay package.
In January the company said it would make 600 people redundant from its North Sea business as part of wider plans to shed 4,000 positions from its global upstream segment.
Regional officer for Unite Tommy Campbell said: “The company should be ashamed of themselves and so should he.
“It’s absolutely outrageous, it’s obscene, especially given many working for BP and their contractors have suffered job losses, pay cuts and worsening conditions.”
The deal would see Mr Dudley’s salary rise from £1.27m in 2014 to £1.3m for 2015, while his annual cash bonus will also rise from £702,733 in 2014 to £976,799 for last year.
BP have said the company’s performance surpassed board expectations on almost all measures determining remuneration and the outcome reflects this.
Regional organiser for RMT Jake Molloy said: “It stinks – thousands of workers across the UK and Norway have lost their jobs and those who remain face cuts to conditions in the range of 10 to 40% while working longer hours, reduced pensions, no holiday entitlement and the rest.
“It is shocking the fat cats responsible for the mess we are in should be rewarded for their efforts of causing grief and misery for thousands.
“Dudley should have had his package cut in equal measure!”
Aberdeen Asset Management is expected to be among a pack of major investors voting against Mr Dudley’s pay after it stated BP’s remuneration awards were “overly complex”.
But it said it was “supportive of management’s strategy” and was “sure the company will take note of shareholders’ feedback”.
Any vote against the deal is only advisory and will not lead to the package being blocked.
A spokesman for BP said: “Despite the very challenging environment, BP’s safety and operating performance was excellent throughout 2015 and management also responded early and decisively to the steep fall in the oil price.
“BP’s performance surpassed the board’s expectations on almost all of the measures that determine remuneration – and the outcome therefore reflects this. And these clear measures derive directly from BP’s remuneration policy which was approved by shareholders at the 2014 AGM with over 96% of the vote.”
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