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Salaries of SOE heads

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-19 09:02

Heads of the country's State Owned Enterprises (SOEs), who stand at the top of the pay scale, should be treated as businessmen rather than Party officials, says an article in Changjiang Daily. The following is an excerpt:

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said recently that leaders of SOEs who decide their own pay or excessive bonus, will be expelled from the CPC.

In the existing system, the identity of SOE chiefs is not clear. They are neither professional managers nor full-time politicians. However, they are paid well under the modern enterprise system and have the opportunity for promotion in the official hierarchy.

Frankly, they can be Party members, and Party disciplines do apply to them. But at the same time, they need to be treated also as business leaders.

Theoretically, it should be the workers who decide how much these executives should be paid. But it is unrealistic and impossible to do that. As heads of SOEs which are mostly in monoply position in their industries,it is also impossible to pay them in reference to how their counterparts in other enterprises are paid.

To fix these problems, steps must be taken to not only put them under the supervision of the Party, but also place them under management of remuneration committees of their own SOEs.

A fair pay system should be established, and auditing further strengthened.