Of course, Shell is based in Holland, where those socialists Dutch people allow for the owners of a company to vote on matters of importance to their investment, but still the fact that Royal Dutch Shell felt compelled to curbe pay to upper managment is a good thing:

Royal Dutch Shell Plc said it was overhauling its pay practices for top management, including a pay freeze for its chief executive, Peter Voser, and a limit on bonuses, after a shareholder revolt last year.

The head of Shell’s remuneration committee said salaries for Voser and Chief Financial Officer Simon Henry, which are 20 percent lower than their predecessors’, were being frozen until 2011.

Directors will not, this year, be allowed to award management bonuses if they fail to meet pre-agreed targets.

Top management received bonuses for 2008, despite not hitting targets, prompting 60 percent of Shell investors who voted, to oppose the 2008 remuneration report.

Hans Wijers, Chairman of Shell’s Remuneration Committee told investors in a letter, a copy of which was published on Shell’s web site on Tuesday, that he wanted to “demonstrate appropriate restraint in the current economic environment”.

I still think that a non-binding “say on pay” is weak tea, but it managed to shame a huge company into doing the right thing, so it is an improvement.