NEW YORK (Reuters Breakingviews) - CHAUFFEURED IMMUNITY. Last month, around 8 million fewer Americans were employed than in February 2020, before coronavirus struck. Big-company bosses aren’t sharing the broader pain. Median pay for chief executives at 322 large U.S. public companies reached $13.7 million for 2020, up from a year earlier and heading for a record, according to the Wall Street Journal. Some companies tweaked performance targets to help managers achieve them. While some CEOs last year took Covid-related cuts in their salaries, that’s a small component of overall remuneration. After plunging in March 2020 stock prices recovered to finish the year near record highs, and that factors into many pay packages. Even so, banks on Wall Street and businesses across the United States benefited from government support for markets and consumer incomes, and bosses don’t deserve a windfall for that. The season for shareholder votes on pay, which are non-binding but send important messages, is only beginning. Investors have already expressed majority displeasure at companies including at Starbucks and Walgreens Boots Alliance. Maybe votes against CEO pay, typically only occurring at 2% or so of U.S. companies, could prove contagious this year. (By Richard Beales)