Who ever said, “Greed is good”?
Yesterday, I discovered a lovely compliment paid to this Blog on RealTownBlogs.com by Frances Flynn Thorsen that prompted me not only to send her a note of thanks, but got me onto my own soap box about what I believe to be a gross injustice. I promise this won't be a regular occurrence. So...Here goes:
Who is “that guy”? He is Glenn ("the Gecko") Tilton, CEO of United Airlines.
Who am I? I've been many things of which one was a long term stockholder who saw his small investment dwindle from a high of $300 per share, down to zero after a lengthy UAL bankruptcy!
What is corporate America coming to? United's Proxy Statement, filed March 26th with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), exposes extraordinary executive greed. Glenn Tilton, alone, claimed more for himself (that's $39 million bucks for 2006) than the entire airline's annual profit! Employees are, rightfully, outraged and so should investors. Those employees remaining after the bankruptcy have had promised company pensions turned over to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), certain jobs outsourced overseas, salaries cut and work rules changed…and for what? So that greedy managers can stuff their pockets with more money they could ever spend in three lifetimes.
The workers agreed to suffer the hardships because they were told there would be shared sacrifice. It surely doesn’t seem that ever happened. I read that employees lobbied Congress to ensure UAL got the route to fly from Washington DC to Beijng China that is expected to generate $100 million in revenue. It was calculated that 146 round trips would be needed to pay for Tilton's 2006 compensation and by contrast, a Flight Attendant would need to work the trip 40,000 times to equal the same pay, which would take 1,111 years to accomplish.
And what about the stockholders? Honestly, I am surprised we stockholders didn’t show up at stockholder meetings and court hearings with shotguns and pitchforks when during the bankruptcy proceedings Tilton and his managers sought to enrich themselves, claiming it was competitive compensation needed to keep the “talent” from going elsewhere.
Excuse me? Competitive management, such as American Airlines, didn’t bankrupt their company. And who in their right mind would pay for such managemet to stay that did? Conversely, Delta Airlines’ CEO recently put his pay and benefits on hold while it emerges from bankruptcy. I am all for good 'ol US enterprise - when backed by at least a little ethics. It makes my stomach churn and I am appalled that the senior management of a major US corporation is allowed to profit more than the company, itself; while the salaried workers and investors bear that costs. And just to clear the air (pun intended), this little rant is not about jealousy. I would rather earn what I do, knowing I did an honest day's work for it than to have schemed it away from others who deserve a decent working wage. Who ever said, Greed is good”? Not me!
* A gecko is a cold-blooded creature who cannot generate its own heat. Instead, it takes on the temperature of its environment. With infrared photography one can see how cold a gecko's eyes are. |
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