Sir: I find the stories about the so-called Sunshine Club disturbing. But not for the same reason as most people, I suspect.
The Sunshine Club is a list of those people on the public payroll who are paid $100,000 a year or more.
In Chatham-Kent, there are an estimated 600 people who fit into that category and many of their names are printed.
To me, this seems simply an exercise in jealousy, an effort to try to appease those of us who don’t make any where near that amount of money for our labours.
Many people have criticized the $100,000 or more salary, but I have not read or heard one person suggest just what an appropriate remumeration would be. Would $90,000 be OK; what about $80,000 and so on?
Do we know how many hours these people put in to their jobs and if so, is their salary reasonable on a per hour basis?
As a former journalist, I dealt with many of these so-called highly paid individuals and came to the conclusion that some of them were worth only half of what they were paid while others deserved twice what they were getting.
The question we should be asking is whether we are receiving good value for the money we are paying. If not, then that’s a whole different ball game.
I have never earned anywhere near $100,000 a year, but I don’t begrudge anyone who makes that kind of money, even public servants. There is the old notion that you get what you pay for, and that’s true even today.
Brian Cleeve
Chatham
