Is it time for a wage spread law?

I would like to propose something that seems perfectly reasonable, but will be resisted by the "captains of industry" as much as the idea that people should not have to work 12 hour days, 6 days a week was 150 years ago.

The idea is that, in any company, the maximum wage paid to anyone should be no more than 50 times the minimum wage paid to anyone. Of course, this is not my original idea, but I want to explore it a little more - it was prompted by an article I saw proposing a "maximum wage" akin to the minimum wage. I am not convinced that approach is one that would work ( although I might be wrong, and it is an alternative route to go down).

Fifty times - lets be clear what this means: by the end of the first week of the year, the highest paid person will have earned the lowest paid persons entire annual income. Actually, I would rather the multiplier was closer to twenty times, but we can start on fifty. For some that is radical enough.

Of course, this is not just "salary" earnings. The top level should be "all income from the company", including bonuses, share options, and even expenses. The earners in the company should include outsourced staff - cleaners, maintenence staff, everyone who is regularly involved in the running of the company.

I would concede that some people may be on part-time rates, and so they can be pro-rata calculated, but anyone on a zero hours contract, with no guaranteed hours is considered to be earning nothing. I would give some leeway for apprenticeship schemes, where the low income is countered by training and a qualification, as long as that could be financially quantified.

So this would not put a cap on salaries or bonuses. If the bankers want to get their million pound bonuses, on top of their million pound salaries, that is not a problem, as long as the absolute minimum paid to anyone in the bank is £40K. If you want your chief executive to be paid £10M, fine - just ensure that your cleaners, security staff and receptionists are paid £200K. Which is only fair, because they too have contributed to the success of the company that justifies the CEO salary.

I should point out that this was originally thought through before Bob Crow died this week, but I am posting this with a nod to him, as it seems to reflect some of his beliefs.