I agree that CEO compensation - in many cases - is out of line.  But that is a separate issue.....for the "man in the trenches" i.e. not the fat cats at the top, public sector workers (in Canada) now out earn their private sector comparables.   There have been a number of articles (and research) in recent years that have come to this conclusion.

Historically, the public sector paid somewhat less than the private sector - of course, the trade off was that almost no one ever gets fired in the public sector....and the public sector has very, very attractive pensions/benefits etc., which are increasingly NOT found in the private sector (i.e. defined benefit pension plans vs. defined contribution plans found in the private sector).

Now, public sector workers make more money AND get much better pensions etc.  

To be fair, much of the growing disparity has resulted because private sector wage increases have been close to zip (for most workers) over the course of the last 15/20 years.