368

Business

New DSB boss will receive 4.5 million kroner a year

admin
December 12th, 2011


This article is more than 13 years old.

DF spokesperson criticises high salary for railway operator’s fourth CEO of the year

National railway operator DSB came under fire after it announced that its new managing director would receive an annual salary of 4.5 million kroner.

The traffic spokesperson for Dansk Folkeparti (DF), Kim Christiansen, said the salary given to new managing director Jesper Lok sends a bad signal at a time when DSB is undergoing cutbacks.

“I must admit that I have a problem when DSB’s new managing director can look forward to an annual salary of 4.5 million kroner plus benefits in the middle of a time of crisis where DSB is in the midst of mass firings and extensive cutbacks,” Christiansen said. “I can’t understand how DSB can allow itself to send a signal that they can afford exorbitant salaries at the top while firing at the bottom.”

In a press release, DSB announced that Lok would be looking to bring “simple solutions to complex challenges” to the beleaguered state-owned company, which prior to Lok had seen three managing directors come and go in 2011 alone.

The company’s woes continued on Monday just hours after the announcement of Lok’s hire when employees at a number of DSB repair shops walked out on their jobs over dissatisfaction with their work environment. The estimated 600-700 employees, located in Aarhus and Fredericia, were due to return to their jobs tomorrow morning, according to their joint union representative.

Lok comes to DSB from the shipping company Svitzer, where he had been managing director since 2004. At DSB, he will be overseeing a company with over 9,000 employees.


Share

Most popular

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to receive The Daily Post

















Latest Podcast

A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”