AOC Reminds Billionaire Who Thinks Employees Are Overpaid That CEO-To-Worker Pay Gap Is 'At Highest Levels Ever'

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) criticized Australian property mogul Tim Gurner for suggesting that workers are overcompensated while doing too little.

What Happened: During the Australian Financial Review's Property Summit, Gurner, the founder of Gurner Group, expressed concern that employees may be working less since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which he believes is significantly affecting productivity. 

“They have been paid a lot to do not too much in the last few years and we need to see that change,” he said.

The billionaire said the unemployment needs to rise 40%-50% and “we need to see pain in the economy.” 

“There has been a systematic change where employees feel the employer is extremely lucky to have them as opposed to the other way around,” he said adding that this has to change.

He indicated that governments worldwide are striving to increase unemployment rates to address this issue.

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AOC Fires Back: In response, Ocasio-Cortez highlighted the substantial pay gap between corporate executives and workers. She pointed out that CEOs have significantly increased their own compensation, while leaving workers with a pittance.

"Reminder that major CEOs have skyrocketed their own pay so much that the ratio of CEO-to-worker pay is now at some of the highest levels *ever* recorded," she said in a post responding to Gurner’s video.

Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks coincide with a significant strike in Hollywood involving writers and actors, marking one of the largest labor actions in decades. Additionally, the United Auto Workers union is currently engaged in intense contract negotiations with Detroit’s Big Three automakers, particularly focused on wage issues.

According to a recent Fast Company report, CEOs of the top 350 U.S. firms earn an average of $27.8 million per year, which is 399 times the average worker’s earnings and represents a 1,460% increase from executive compensation levels in 1978 when adjusted for inflation.

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