Walmart CEO quits as more workers strike in Miami, St. Paul

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7Ks9RZ5BLVJz4Ei0RLimuheOAf9ZqJkhrFDJn5nX_OJ55dvEMDRQJLDYRK-2CxUqNDpAFx0C0AFYL3wOUmRtUu9QWqGYQ9YnOaPjZzHjXUo6brrIrETiDeddrfOk6moC0-DDNCHNjUUFa/s1600/walmart+strikers+minnesota.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7Ks9RZ5BLVJz4Ei0RLimuheOAf9ZqJkhrFDJn5nX_OJ55dvEMDRQJLDYRK-2CxUqNDpAFx0C0AFYL3wOUmRtUu9QWqGYQ9YnOaPjZzHjXUo6brrIrETiDeddrfOk6moC0-DDNCHNjUUFa/s400/walmart+strikers+minnesota.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Walmart workers and supporters walk the picket line today in St. Paul, Minn. </td></tr></tbody></table><a href="https://www.facebook.com/OURWMT" rel="nofollow">Walmart workers</a> went on strike this morning in Miami and St. Paul, the eighth and ninth such strikes in recent weeks as the company announced CEO Mike Duke is stepping down.<br /><br /> <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/11/mckesson-ceo-makes-943-times-average-workers-pay-wants-to-cut-social-security.html" rel="nofollow">Duke makes 6,132 times what the average Walmart worker earns</a>.<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1603821#ixzz2lPicW4vy" rel="nofollow">International Business Times</a> reports,<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">The chief executive of giant US retailer Walmart has stepped down while the company battles with a series of clashes with workers. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Mike Duke, who is heading off to retirement, is to be replaced by company veteran Doug McMillon to take the helm of one of the world's largest companies in February next year.</blockquote>Walmart worker and <a href="http://makingchangeatwalmart.org/2013/11/25/our-walmart-statement-on-ceo-change/" rel="nofollow">OUR Walmart member</a> Tiffany Beroid put out a statement saying the change of leadership is a testament to the pressure the company is under:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">We’re happy to see Mr. McMillon acknowledge the hard work of associates in his statement this morning, and we hope that this appreciation translates into improving jobs for Walmart workers. Americans nationwide are looking to Walmart to improve jobs and strengthen our economy, and Mr. McMillon has an opportunity to be a leader in moving Walmart in the right direction, not just in offering more empty promises. We sincerely hope that Mr. McMillon will answer the country’s calls for Walmart to publicly commit to paying $25,000 a year, providing full-time work and ending its illegal retaliation against its own employees.</blockquote><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/11/25/2989051/walmart-strikes-miami-tampa-sacramento/" rel="nofollow">ThinkProgress</a> reported on today's strike in Miami: <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Walmart workers went on strike on in Miami on Monday morning, following strikes in Tampa on Saturday and in Sacramento, CA on Friday. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Katie, who has worked at a store in Miami for three years and makes $8.75 an hour, told ThinkProgress she’s striking to improve conditions for both herself and her coworkers. “We’re going on strike for better benefits, for better pay for associates, and for respect,” she said.<br />The strikes make eight this month, coming after workers called out or walked off the job in Dallas, cities in Ohio, Chicago, Seattle, and Los Angeles. Workers also went on strike in Miami in October.</blockquote>And in St. Paul, the <a href="http://advocate.stpaulunions.org/2013/11/25/walmart-workers-go-on-strike-in-brooklyn-center-kick-off-week-of-action-for-better-wages/" rel="nofollow">Union Advocate</a> reports:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">The nationwide wave of Walmart strikes hit Minnesota this morning, when three women who work at the Brooklyn Center store informed management they were going on an unfair-labor-practices strike. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison and Rev. Doug Mork of nearby Cross of Glory Lutheran Church accompanied the workers into the store, and dozens of supporters from faith, labor and community groups greeted them on their way out, ready to erect a picket line. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Andrea Williams, April Williams and Lillian Griffin said they decided to take a stand after attempts to organize for better wages, meaningful benefits and a voice on the job drew retaliation from store managers.</blockquote>Throughout the country, Walmart workers and supporters from the <a href="http://teamster.org/" rel="nofollow">Teamsters</a> and other unions plan to demonstrate against abuse and poverty wages on Black Friday. If you haven't found a Walmart protest near you, click <a href="http://www.teamster.org/content/teamsters-support-walmart-strikers" rel="nofollow">here</a> to find one.

CEO Pay low wage workers protest strike walmart Walmart CEO quits as more workers strike in Miami, St. Paul

Walmart workers and supporters walk the picket line today in St. Paul, Minn.  Walmart workers  went on strike this morning in Miami and St. ...

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McKesson CEO makes 943 times average workers' pay, wants Social Security cut

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhExORV0ktOQEzzcIDryx2MLi2iJedIvpapryVQUiZN9VMJPd5seDXzUF2_EOd_aHD6PphRwXzv2wED6hD7s7483U8fwoE7YfqvvghvwbAFYCyhbHeOQ4UtRHiYKFb6PfTS5e1sG3wUd0ah/s1600/Hammergren.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhExORV0ktOQEzzcIDryx2MLi2iJedIvpapryVQUiZN9VMJPd5seDXzUF2_EOd_aHD6PphRwXzv2wED6hD7s7483U8fwoE7YfqvvghvwbAFYCyhbHeOQ4UtRHiYKFb6PfTS5e1sG3wUd0ah/s320/Hammergren.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yay! I make 943 times what the average <br />worker makes at McKesson!</td></tr></tbody></table><a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/09/McKesson-CEO-jaw-dropping-pay.html" rel="nofollow">McKesson</a>, the pharmaceutical distribution giant, pays its CEO John Hammergren 943 times what the average McKesson worker makes.<br /><br />That puts <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKesson_Corporation" rel="nofollow">McKesson</a> right behind <a href="https://www.facebook.com/OURWMT?fref=ts" rel="nofollow">Walmar</a>t when it comes to CEO plundering of a company and abuse of employees.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/15/walmart-retirement-pension_n_4283341.html" rel="nofollow">Walmart CEO Mike Duke makes 6,132 times</a> what the average Walmart worker earns, according to the Huffington Post. Walmart claims it cares for its workers, but it has a funny way of showing it: A <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/11/walmart-holding-food-drive-for-its-own-employees.html" rel="nofollow">Walmart store in Ohio is running a Thanksgiving food drive for its own employees </a>who are so underpaid they need charitable donations to have a holiday dinner. Yum, canned peas!<br /><br />Hammergren empathizes with his employees the same way Duke does. In <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/07/teamsters-protest-mckesson-retaliation.html" rel="nofollow">McKesson's Lakeland, Fla., warehouse, workers don't earn enough to afford health insurance</a>. The workers voted to join the <a href="http://teamster.org/" rel="nofollow">Teamsters</a>, and now the company is threatening and harassing them in a by-the-book union-busting effort. <br /><br />Hammergren's signal achievement at <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/08/McKesson-shareholders-reject-CEO-pay.html" rel="nofollow">McKesson was racking up nearly $1 billion in fines for price-fixing and Medicaid fraud</a>. Now he claims he's concerned about government debt (he's not) and wants to lower it. Presumably he wasn't too worried about contributing to the government debt while he was looting the Treasury.<br /><br />Hammergren belongs to that uniquely loathsome group, <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/01/fix-debt-is-full-of-crap.html" rel="nofollow">Fix the Debt</a>, which wants to cut your Social Security. <a href="http://www.ips-dc.org/reports/platinum_plated_pensions" rel="nofollow">The Institute for Policy Studies</a> found three of the Fix the Debt CEOs who want to impoverish millions of retirees have pensions of more than $100 million each. Hammergren  has the largest retirement fortune of the three: $144.3 million.<br /><br />Another group aiming to throw millions into poverty, the Business Roundtable, is made up of CEOs whose retirement savings are 1,200 times bigger than the average worker's.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/177251/ceos-massive-retirement-fortunes-push-social-security-cuts#" rel="nofollow">The Nation</a> recently exposed the shocking cruelty of Fix the Debt and the Business Roundtable. Reports The Nation:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">These CEOs aren’t just trying to short the average American retiree; they’re throwing their own under the bus. While raising alarm about the federal debt, Business Roundtable CEOs have run up massive deficits in their employees’ pension funds. According to the report, ten companies led by members of Business Roundtable have shortfalls in their employee pension funds of between $4.9 and $22.6 billion. The largest of those belongs to General Electric, run by Business Roundtable and Fix the Debt member Jeffrey Immelt, the prospective beneficiary of a $59.3 million retirement fund. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">GE stopped offering traditional pension plans for new employees in 2011, forcing workers to switch to 401(k) plans. Many other companies have shifted the burden of retirement savings to their employees in this way in recent years, and that’s been a significant driver of the retirement crisis. Just 18 percent of workers can expect traditional pensions today, compared with 38 percent in 1985. Instead of getting a fixed check, retirees are at the mercy of the market—making the assurance of Social Security benefits even more essential.</blockquote>How did we ever let this happen?<br /><br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"> </blockquote><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />

CEO Pay Hammergren low-wage workers McKesson walmart McKesson CEO makes 943 times average workers' pay, wants Social Security cut

Yay! I make 943 times what the average worker makes at McKesson! McKesson , the pharmaceutical distribution giant, pays its CEO John Hammerg...

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Shouldn't CEOs get the same treatment as the Bishop of Bling?

Pope Francis set a good example for corporate boards when he<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leo-w-gerard/poisonous-million-dollar_b_4167865.html?utm_source=Alert-blogger&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Email%2BNotifications" rel="nofollow"> busted the Bishop of Bling</a>, argues Brother Larry Cohen, president of the <a href="http://www.cwa-union.org/" rel="nofollow">Communications Workers of America</a>.<br /><br />The pontiff recently suspended German Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, who spent $42 million to renovate his luxurious residence and billed the Vatican for it. The <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2478230/Bishop-Blings-26m-Limburg-mansion-turned-soup-kitchen.html" rel="nofollow">mansion may be turned into a soup kitchen or a refugee center</a>. <br /><br />The Roman Catholic Church's new pope is a refreshing change to the aristocratic leaders we've been saddled with in the last few decades. He chose the name of a saint who lived among the poor. He lives in Spartan rooms, drives a 1984 Renault and wears loafers instead of the handmade red slippers of his predecessors.<br /><br />CWA's Cohen, in a recent <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leo-w-gerard/poisonous-million-dollar_b_4167865.html?utm_source=Alert-blogger&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Email%2BNotifications" rel="nofollow">Huffington Post</a>, says corporate boards of directors should follow the pope's example, "banishing imperial CEOs and rejecting royal pay package demands."<br /><br />A corporate board demeans its employees when it awards a CEO 1,287 times what it pays the typical worker for his labor and loyalty, writes Cohen.<br /><br />Someone actually did make 1,287 times what the median worker at his company got paid: Larry Ellison, CEO of technology giant Oracle, according to a <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-30/ceo-pay-1-795-to-1-multiple-of-workers-skirts-law-as-sec-delays.html">Bloomberg estimate</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://teamster.org/" rel="nofollow">Teamsters</a> are especially unhappy with McKesson CEO John Hammergren, who took home $57 million last year. Newly organized Teamsters at McKesson's Lakeland, Fla., warehouse don't make enough to afford health care.<br /><br />Cohen cites <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/9deb27f8-2c3b-11e3-8b20-00144feab7de.html%23axzz2huhETtZz">British economist Andrew Smithers, who figures</a> American companies in the 1970s devoted 15 times as much capital to investments  as they distributed to shareholders. Writes Cohen:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Now it's less than 2 to 1. Today, CEOs suck out companies' value rather than building for the future.</blockquote>The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is proposing to shame imperial CEOs by requiring them to disclose the ratio of worker pay to CEO pay.<br /><br />You can bet the SEC is hearing from corporate lobbyists to squelch this proposal. If you'd like the SEC to hear your voice as well, you can send a comment letter. Just click <a href="http://bit.ly/1ccoI50" rel="nofollow">here</a> and follow the easy instructions.<br /><br />

austerity CEO Pay inequality Shouldn't CEOs get the same treatment as the Bishop of Bling?

Pope Francis set a good example for corporate boards when he busted the Bishop of Bling , argues Brother Larry Cohen, president of the Comm...

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Staggering CEO pay smashes all previous records

CEO pay reached astronomical levels last year, according to a new report whose author said he's never seen anything like it.<br /><div><br /><div>The 10 highest paid CEOs all took home more than $100 million, and two 'earned' more than $1 billion in a single year, according to GMI Ratings' 2013 Pay Survey.</div><div><br /><div>"I have never seen anything like that," the report's author, Greg Ruel, told the Guardian. "Usually we have a few CEOs at the $100m-plus level but never the entire top 10."<br /><br />Median workers' pay in the U.S. fell 9 percent since 1999.<br /><br />McKesson CEO John Hammergren, who took home<a href="http://www.forbes.com/pictures/eggh45jef/john-hammergren-of-mckesson/"> $131.2 million in 2011</a>, didn't even make this year's list. Perhaps that's because<a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/08/McKesson-shareholders-reject-CEO-pay.html"> investors said 'no' to his exorbitant pay package this year</a>. <br /><br />According to <a href="http://www.alternet.org/billion-dollar-pay-check-10-ceos-america-break-all-records-executive-pay?page=0%2C1&paging=off&current_page=1#bookmark">The Guardian</a>,<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">...median household income, adjusted for inflation, was $51,017 in 2012, broadly unchanged from 2011. Wages for the average household have fallen about 9% from an inflation-adjusted peak of $56,080 in 1999. The census figures show a sharp recovery for those at the top of the wage scale as those at the bottom continue to see falls. </blockquote><div>Here are the top 10:<br /><ol><li>Facebook, Inc., Mark Zuckerberg, $2,278,668,214 </li><li>Kinder Morgan, Inc., Richard D. Kinder, $1,116,685,089 </li><li>Sirius XM Radio Inc., Mel Karmazin, $255,355,676 </li><li>Liberty Media Corporation, Gregory B. Maffei, $254,890,638 </li><li>Apple Inc., Timothy D. Cook, $143,828,867 </li><li>Dick’s Sporting Goods, Inc., Edward W. Stack, $142,052,496 </li><li>Liberty Interactive Corporation, Gregory B. Maffei, $136,450,484 </li><li>Starbucks Corporation, Howard Schultz, $117,562,601 </li><li>salesforce.com, inc., Marc Benioff, $109,544,875 </li><li>Verisk Analytics, Inc., Frank J. Coyne, $100,432,117 </li></ol>The report doesn't disclose the gap between the CEO's pay and the average worker's pay.<br /><br />The<a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/09/ceos-must-expose-inequality.html"> Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)</a> proposes companies disclose the gap, and the <a href="http://teamster.org/">Teamsters</a> support that proposal. Take, for example, Hammergren. During his tenure as CEO at McKesson, the company paid nearly $1 billion in fines for Medicaid fraud and price fixing, while newly organized Teamsters at the company's Lakeland, Fla., warehouse can't afford health insurance.<br /><br />Making CEO's explain to investors that there's a mind-boggling distance between their pay and their average workers' pay might just shame them into common decency.<br /><br /></div></div></div></div>

CEO Pay inequality wages Staggering CEO pay smashes all previous records

CEO pay reached astronomical levels last year, according to a new report whose author said he's never seen anything like it. The 10 high...

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Today's Teamster News 10.14.13

<a href="http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1241573/negotiations-between-teamsters-and-cn-derail" rel="nofollow">Negotiations between Teamsters and CN derail</a>  Teamsters Canada   ...The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), which represents some 3,300 conductors, trainmen, yardmen and traffic coordinators at Canadian National (CN), are gearing up for a fight with the railway company...<br /><a href="http://dobetternissan.org/2013/10/compa-report" rel="nofollow">Report outlines how Nissan in Canton, Miss., is violating international human rights standards of workers who want to organize and bargain collectively</a>  Do Better Nissan   ...in the Canton plant, according to the report, Nissan has launched a campaign of fear and intimidation to nullify these rights...<br /><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-11/federal-workers-stretch-last-paycheck-until-shutdown-ends.html" rel="nofollow">Federal Workers Stretch Last Paycheck Until Shutdown Ends</a>  Bloomberg   ...The average federal employee earned an annual salary of $76,353 in 2012, and the lost income is exerting a drag on the economy as well as forcing employees who live paycheck-to-paycheck to figure out how to cover their bills until the shutdown ends...<br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/oct/09/worlds-wealthy-where-russia-rich-list?CMP=twt_gu" rel="nofollow">The world's wealthy: where on earth are the richest 1%?</a>  The Guardian   ...Amid a record high for average global wealth its figures reveal striking inequalities – such as 35% of Russia's riches in the hands of 110 people...<br /><a href="http://www.economicpopulist.org/" rel="nofollow">Don't Count on a 1.5% Social Security Increase, the Figures Have not Been Released Yet</a>  Economic Populist   ...The problem with this headline announcement by the press is the social security cost of living increase has not been announced yet and is highly dependent on government inflation statistics for September...<br /><a href="http://truth-out.org/news/item/19334-the-tragedy-of-greece-as-a-case-study-of-neo-imperial-pillage-and-the-demise-of-social-europe" rel="nofollow">The Tragedy of Greece as a Case Study of Neo-Imperial Pillage and the Demise of Social Europe</a>  Truthout   ...A public debt crisis has been used as an opportunity to dismantle a rudimentary social state, to sell off profitable public enterprises and state assets at bargain prices, to deprive labor of even its most basic rights after decades of hard-fought struggles against capital, and to substantially reduce wages, salaries and pensions, creating a de facto banana republic...<br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/13/opinion/sunday/the-end-of-the-nation-state.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0" rel="nofollow">The End of the Nation-State?</a> (opinion)  New York Times   ... though most of us might not realize it, “nonstate world” describes much of how global society already operates. This isn’t to say that states have disappeared, or will. But they are becoming just one form of governance among many...<br /><a href="http://electionlawblog.org/?p=55927&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electionlawblog%2FuqCP+%28Election+Law%29" rel="nofollow">Breaking: Judge Posner Admits He Was Wrong in Crawford Voter ID Case</a>  Election Law Blog   ..."we…. weren’t really given strong indications that requiring additional voter identification would actually disfranchise people entitled to vote..."<br /><a href="http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/10/why-ceo-pay-will-keep-rising-to-even-more-insanely-unjustified-levels-while-ordinary-workers-fare-worse.html" rel="nofollow">Why CEO Pay Will Keep Rising to Even More Insanely Unjustified Levels While Ordinary Workers Get Squeezed</a>  naked capitalism   ...Even casual scrutiny will tell you that the current ridiculous levels of CEO pay bear no relationship to anything other than their highly developed rent extraction skills...<br /><br /><br />

CEO Pay European debt crisis government shutdown Greece negotiations rail social security trade union busting voter suppression Today's Teamster News 10.14.13

Negotiations between Teamsters and CN derail  Teamsters Canada   ...The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), which represents some 3,30...

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Teamsters want gap exposed between worker, CEO pay

Teamsters know firsthand what happens to workers when a CEO is allowed to loot his company: The workers get less when the CEO gets more.<br /><br />In the case of McKesson Corp., <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/09/McKesson-CEO-jaw-dropping-pay.html" rel="nofollow">CEO John Hammergren was planning on taking home $51.7 million</a>. Here's what he did to deserve that enormous compensation: preside over a company that paid the government $200 million in fines last year to settle charges for Medicaid fraud and price fixing. Workers who voted to become <a href="http://www.teamster.org/content/teamsters-protest-mckessons-worker-abuse-and-executive-pay-shareholder-meeting" rel="nofollow">Teamsters, meanwhile, can't afford healthcare and are facing McKesson's high-priced union busters</a>.<br /><br />Shareholders knew about the disparity and <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/08/McKesson-shareholders-reject-CEO-pay.html" rel="nofollow">voted against McKesson's lavish pay</a> at the July shareholder meeting.<br /><br />Exposing the gross inequality between CEOs and workers <i>can</i> shame companies into paying them less. That's why the Teamsters came out in support of an SEC proposal to require companies reveal the disparity between CEO pay and worker pay.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.teamster.org/sites/teamster.org/files/IBT_Hall_Letter_to_SEC_on_pay_ratio_disclosure_102013.pdf" rel="nofollow">Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall sent a letter</a> to the SEC endorsing its proposal on the CEO-to-worker pay ratio. According to <a href="http://teamster.org/">teamster.org</a>,<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">The International Brotherhood of Teamsters supports the SEC’s proposal to require corporations to reveal the difference between the pay of their CEO and their average workers. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">The SEC rule is required by the Dodd-Frank Act, which became law more than three years ago. Once the rule is written, investors such as Teamster benefit funds will have:<br /><ul><li>a better way to assess the board of directors who set executive pay;</li><li>a correlation between compensation practices throughout companies and morale and productivity; and,</li><li>an important way to measure CEO pay for advisory proxy votes on executive compensation plans.</li></ul>Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall said the Teamsters’ perspective is important as long-term investors protecting the retirement security of hundreds of thousands of American workers.<br />“The rule will help solve the problem of excessive CEO pay, which harms our funds’ investments, the sustainability of U.S. corporations and the employment and retirement security of Teamster members,” Hall said.</blockquote>We'll keep you posted on the SEC's progress in laying down the rule. Because you know those big corporations don't like it one little bit.

CEO Pay McKesson Teamsters want gap exposed between worker, CEO pay

Teamsters know firsthand what happens to workers when a CEO is allowed to loot his company: The workers get less when the CEO gets more. In ...

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Hammergren's high pay may explain workers' low pay

At last an explanation for how<a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/09/McKesson-CEO-jaw-dropping-pay.html" rel="nofollow"> McKesson's CEO John Hammergren</a> can rake in $51.7 million and pay workers so little they can't afford health care and pension contributions. <br /><br />He just doesn't care.<br /><br />A recent New York Times op-ed, <a href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/05/rich-people-just-care-less/?_r=0" rel="nofollow">Rich People Just Care Less</a>, describes how people with greater power ignore people with less power:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Turning a blind eye. Giving someone the cold shoulder. Looking down on people. Seeing right through them.</blockquote>The Times cites a growing body of research proving the phenomenon.<br /><br />The Times op-ed is making a point about politics. The author, Daniel Goleman, argues the Republican Party is more sensitive to the rich and powerful (though Democrats are certainly guilty too). He believes the GOP dismisses the truth about the ordinary people they rarely interact with. That empathy gap allows them to do things like <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/09/28/the-houses-food-stamps-cuts-arent-just-cruel-theyre-dumb/" rel="nofollow">cutting food stamps</a>.<br /><br />It may also explain why Hammergren can care so little about his own employees.

CEO Pay food stamps inequality McKesson Hammergren's high pay may explain workers' low pay

At last an explanation for how McKesson's CEO John Hammergren can rake in $51.7 million and pay workers so little they can't affor...

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SEC, finally, does something about insane CEO pay

You know something's out of whack when <a href="https://teamster.org/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/09/McKesson-CEO-jaw-dropping-pay.html">McKesson CEO John Hammergren rakes in $51.7 million </a>even though the company has paid nearly a $1 billion to settle Medicaid and other fraud claims on his watch. While he’s entitled to a $159 million pension, other McKesson workers can’t even afford to participate in their 401 (k) or buy into the company’s healthcare plan.<br /><br />On $13 an hour, Randolph Santiago, a material handler at McKesson's Lakeland, Fla., facility, can't come up with $160 a month for individual health coverage, let alone the higher cost of a family plan. His wife is on SSI after being diagnosed with clinical depression. His two daughters need braces, but at $8,500, they're beyond him.<br /><br />Hammergren makes 847 times the average worker at McKesson -- if you include his stock options and pension. That's so much that <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/09/McKesson-CEO-jaw-dropping-pay.html" rel="nofollow">he receives an extra $17,000 for a financial planner</a> just to count all his money.<br /><br />It's time to do something about the growing gap between the one percenters at the top of corporations and the 99 percent who work for them. Fortunately, the Securities and Exchange Commission is doing something.<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/18/us-usa-sec-ceopay-munis-idUSBRE98H0EX20130918" rel="nofollow">SEC today proposed a rule</a> requiring corporations to reveal the ratio between their CEO and median worker compensation. As one commissioner complained, the reason for doing it is to shame CEOs. (He thinks there's something wrong with that.)<br /><br />Congress passed a law in July 2010 that requires companies to disclose the gap between CEO and worker pay. Expect corporations to fight back. It’s not just the general public who’s fed up, investors care too. In fact, Hammergren’s compensation package received a stunning 78 percent rejection by shareholders at McKesson’s annual meeting this year.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.teamster.org/content/teamsters-praise-sec-proposed-rule-corporate-pay" rel="nofollow">Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa, in a statement, praised</a> the SEC:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">CEO pay keeps going up and worker pay keeps going down. This is a dirty secret that corporate CEOs don’t want exposed, and the SEC did the right thing by proposing this rule.</blockquote>The <a href="https://teamster.org/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.ips-dc.org/">Institute for Policy Studies</a> reports:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Expert observers of the corporate compensation scene have been calling for action around CEO-worker pay ratios ever since Peter Drucker, the founder of modern management science, called for a 25-to-1 ratio between top management and worker pay in <a href="https://teamster.org/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/WSJ_Drucker_execpay.pdf">a 1977 Wall Street Journal op-ed</a>.<br /><br />Back at that time pay ratios of 50- and 100-to-1 struck the American public — and experts like Drucker — as totally unjustifiable. Ratios that wide, Drucker wrote, endanger the great business achievement of the 20th century, “the steady narrowing of the income gap between the ‘big boss’ and the ‘working man.'”<br /><br />That achievement has now gone completely by the boards. Over recent decades, the CEO-worker pay gap has soared. Major corporate CEOs last year took in <a href="https://teamster.org/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.aflcio.org/Corporate-Watch/CEO-Pay-and-You">354 times more</a> compensation than average American workers, double the gap in the early 1990s. A Bloomberg News survey this past spring found that CEOs at eight major U.S. corporations <a href="https://teamster.org/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://go.bloomberg.com/multimedia/ceo-pay-ratio/">were making over 1,000 times</a> the average pay of workers in their industry.</blockquote>The IPS says pay ratio disclosure could be a game-changer in the struggle against insane executive compensation.<br /><br />Let's hope.<br /><br />

CEO Pay McKesson SEC SEC, finally, does something about insane CEO pay

You know something's out of whack when McKesson CEO John Hammergren rakes in $51.7 million even though the company has paid nearly a $1 ...

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Jaw-dropping pay package for McKesson's CEO

John Hammergren makes so much money that his company, McKesson, pays him an extra <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/01/02/he-s-one-of-the-nation-s-highest-paid-ceos-and-you-ve-never-heard-of-him.html" rel="nofollow">$17,000 for a financial planner</a> to count it all.<br /><br />McKesson workers don't earn enough to afford health care.<br /><br />Hammergren, McKesson's CEO, will be paid $51.7 million, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ceos-who-get-paid-much-more-than-workers-2013-3?op=1" rel="nofollow">over 847 times what the average worker at his company makes</a>. And even <a href="http://www.cwhonors.org/archives/histories/Hammergren.pdf">he admitted that McKesson workers can’t afford the essentials</a>: <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">What’s great about the position of McKesson today as the world’s largest health care services company, our footprint is everywhere. We have systems in probably 50 or 60 percent of the hospitals in America. We have over a third of the pharmacies in America and we have systems in probably 90 percent of the payers in America.<br /><br />At the same time we can have a significant impact on the cost of providing the care. In fact, we have McKesson employees who can’t even afford… the 20 percent co-pay that’s required to have our insurance inside of McKesson. Those people should be afforded high quality health care, and should be provided it in a way that is cost effective.</blockquote>That interview was from 2004. Eight years later, the largest healthcare company in the country still doesn’t provide an affordable healthcare plan for employees. Exactly nothing has changed. Well, except the size of Hammergren’s pension. (Hint: <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-06-06/jumbo-severance-packages-for-top-ceos-are-growing">it definitely didn’t go down</a>). <br /><br />And it’s not because his company is doing great either. <br /><br />McKesson settled out of court <a href="http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/April/12-civ-539.html">for almost $200 million last year after being prosecuted for Medicaid fraud</a> by the Department of Justice. <br /><br />McKesson made $1.2 billion in 2011. Hammergren took 11 percent of that total home. <br /><br />The worst part is that he isn’t alone.<br /><div><br /><div><a href="http://www.ips-dc.org/reports/executive-excess-2013">Yet another study</a> shows the pay gap between the people who actually do the company’s work and the CEOs who collect the profit.<br /><br />Last year, <a href="http://www.aflcio.org/Corporate-Watch/CEO-Pay-and-You/CEO-to-Worker-Pay-Gap-in-the-United-States">the average CEO was paid 354 times as much as the average worker</a>. They now make 873 percent more than they were paid (including long-term incentives and other perks) in 1978.<br /><br />Worker pay <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/ceo-pay-2012-extraordinarily-high/">increased 5.4 percent</a> during the same period.<br /><br />Being a highly paid CEO has no basis in actual talent. Over a third of the CEOs ranked as the top 25 well paid during the last 20 years <a href="http://www.ips-dc.org/reports/executive-excess-2013">have been fired, fined or settled claims of company fraud or whose company received bailout money in 2008</a>. </div></div>

CEO Pay McKesson Jaw-dropping pay package for McKesson's CEO

John Hammergren makes so much money that his company, McKesson, pays him an extra $17,000 for a financial planner to count it all. McKesson...

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Today's Teamster News 09.02.13

<a href="http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/labor-economics-101-few-jobs-means-bad-jobs" rel="nofollow">Labor Economics 101: Few Jobs Means Bad Jobs</a>  Center for Economics and Policy Research   ...because the economy is not generating decent jobs in any reasonable number, workers are forced to take bad jobs...<br /><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/2013/09/01/5699124/calls-to-raise-minimum-wage-return.html" rel="nofollow">Calls to raise minimum wage return with Labor Day</a>  Associated Press   ...A recurring call to raise the minimum wage has returned in the run-up to Labor Day in the form of national rallies and a new report that finds Michigan ranks second-to-worst among states for wage growth during the past 30 years...<br /><a href="http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/09/the-long-battle-for-a-living-wage-goes-on.html" rel="nofollow">The Battle for a Living Wage Goes On</a>  naked capitalism   ...The battle for a living wage for the nation’s poorest workers is set against the backdrop of mass unemployment and the highest level of economic inequality in the U.S. in almost a century...<br /><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/09/02/10-fastest-growing-jobs-in-usa/2750169/" rel="nofollow">10 fastest-growing jobs in the USA</a>  USA Today   ...For both petroleum engineers and service unit operators in the resource industry, the nation's two fastest-growing jobs, growth likely is due largely to changes in the energy sector...<div><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/31/best-paying-jobs-high-school-diploma_n_3847987.html" rel="nofollow">The 7 Best Paying Jobs With Only High School Diploma</a>  24/7 Wall Street   ...Subway and streetcar conductors, fashion designers, power distributors and dispatchers...<br /><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/28/richest-ceos-compensation-ceos_n_3825087.html" rel="nofollow">Taxpayer Dollars Paid A Third Of Richest Corporate CEOs: Report</a>  Huffington Post   ...More than one-third of the nation's highest-paid CEOs from the past two decades led companies that were subsidized by American taxpayers, according to a report released Wednesday by the Institute for Policy Studies, a liberal think tank...<br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/01/opinion/sunday/the-hazard-of-free-trade-tobacco.html?ref=opinion&_r=0" rel="nofollow">The Hazard of Free-Trade Tobacco</a>  New York Times   ...Give thanks to Malaysia for heading off, at least temporarily, an American effort to weaken the ability of countries to impose stiff rules on the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products within their own borders...<br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/aug/30/eurozone-unemployment-set-to-remain-high---business-live" rel="nofollow">Eurozone unemployment steady at 12.1% in July - as it happened</a>  The Guardian   ...Eurozone figures show youth unemployment edging higher...<br /><a href="https://www.aclu.org/national-security/federal-court-sides-aclu-no-fly-list-lawsuit" rel="nofollow">Federal Court Sides With ACLU in No Fly List Lawsuit</a>  ACLU   ...The suit challenges the process for attempting to get off the list as unfair, inadequate, and unconstitutional. The decision also asked the ACLU and the government to submit additional information about the No Fly List redress procedure in order to help the court decide the ultimate question of whether it satisfies the Fifth Amendment's guarantee of due process...<br /><a href="http://m.toledoblade.com/Columnists/2013/09/01/State-budget-is-gold-mine-for-rich-shaft-for-all-others.html" rel="nofollow">State budget is gold mine for rich, shaft for all others</a> (opinion)  Toledo Blade   ...the richest one percent of Ohioans will net a yearly tax cut of nearly $6,000, Middle class taxpayers who earn $51,000 will see a whopping cut of $9. And some of the poorest Ohioans will see their taxes go up...<br /><a href="http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2013-09-01/news/fl-florida-gains-jobs-loses-wages-20130902_1_wages-new-jobs-florida-international-university" rel="nofollow">Floridians finding jobs, but often at low wages</a>  Sun-Sentinel   ...wages are stagnant or dropping, except for the top 10 percent of households, while health-care and other costs are rising...</div>

bailout CEO Pay European debt crisis Florida Ohio spying taxes TPP wages Today's Teamster News 09.02.13

Labor Economics 101: Few Jobs Means Bad Jobs  Center for Economics and Policy Research   ...because the economy is not generating decent jo...

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Where have America's wages gone?

America's wages have gone to greedy CEOs, a lot of whom are incompetent or crooks.<br /><br />The <a href="http://epi.org/" rel="nofollow">Economic Policy Institute</a> has just put out a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/where-have-americas-wages_b_3833375.html?utm_hp_ref=politics" rel="nofollow">study</a> showing that most of the wealth created in this country has gone to the top one percent. As R.J. Eskow notes in the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/where-have-americas-wages_b_3833375.html?utm_hp_ref=politics" rel="nofollow">Huffington Post</a>,<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">We don't have a problem of inadequate wealth. The problem is inadequate wealth distribution. For 99 percent of Americans, wage growth has lagged significantly behind increases in productivity. As the authors note, this is true "regardless of occupation, gender, race/ethnicity, or education level." Since the Great Recession productivity has grown by 7.7 percent, while wages have actually fallen for the bottom 70 percent of earners.</blockquote>It isn't as if those one percenters deserve it. A devastating new <a href="http://www.ips-dc.org/reports/executive-excess-2013" rel="nofollow">report</a> by the Institute for Policy Studies shows that 40 percent of the highest paid CEOs were either fired, bailed out or led companies that had to pay huge fines or settlements for breaking the law.<br /><br />Eskow says it's hopeless to try to convince Republicans to do anything about the inequality destroying our country.<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Republicans are a lost cause. The Republican Party platform of 1956 boasted of union growth and Social Security expansion under President Eisenhower. But that party is long gone and there's little likelihood it will ever return. Democrats can be pressured by their base, with its preponderance of working people. Republicans who primarily rely on billionaire and/or Tea Party support are largely insulated from that kind of pressure (although there may be some opportunities for populist grassroots alliances).</blockquote>And he excoriates the so-called "centrist Democrats" who aid and abet billionaire-backed Republicans.<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">The word "centrist" is placed in quotation marks because polls show that their economic views are to the right of the American mainstream. On issues such as corporate taxation, Social Security benefits, and free trade, they stand to the right of most Americans -- and sometimes to the right of most registered Republicans. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">"Centrist" Dems actively participated in the deregulation of Wall Street, which led to runaway financialization of profits while putting the global economy at risk. They pushed free trade agreements that decimated American jobs (and failed to provide adequate rights for workers overseas), a practice which President Obama has continued. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">"Centrist" Dems remained silent as corporate leaders paid themselves constantly-inflating salaries and bonus packages, diluted shareholder oversight, and transformed corporations like GE from productive, job-creating entities into financial players fixated on quarterly results -- a fixation which has helped executive pay packages expand exponentially. </blockquote>He concludes: <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">It will take a grassroots uprising to redirect the thinking of the "centrist" Democrats toward economic equality.</blockquote>The good news is that may be happening, given the thousands of workers who walked out on jobs at the <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/08/la-port-strike-ends-with-return-to-work.html" rel="nofollow">ports</a>,<a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/08/fast-food-strikes-shut-down-stores.html" rel="nofollow"> fast food restaurants and retail stores</a>.

CEO Pay wages Where have America's wages gone?

America's wages have gone to greedy CEOs, a lot of whom are incompetent or crooks. The Economic Policy Institute has just put out a stu...

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Union investors demand resignation of McKesson compensation committee chairman

<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/hhiOEokyDI8" width="420"></iframe><br /><br />A union investment group affiliated with the Teamsters says the $159 million pension given to McKesson’s CEO is cause for the compensation committee chairman to resign.<br /><br />The Teamsters represent 1,500 McKesson warehouse workers across the U.S. and in Canada. But in Lakeland, Fla., where many McKesson distribution workers cannot afford to pay for their health insurance or contribute to their 401(k) plan, McKesson has hired union-busting firms and retaliated against workers who support the union. After nearly two years as Teamsters, the workers are still fighting for a fair first contract. <br /><br />Now, the Change to Win Investment Group is demanding the resignation of McKesson director and compensation committee chairman Alton Irby. It also asked for the renegotiation and reduction of CEO John Hammergren’s $159 million pension benefit “as part of a comprehensive overhaul of the company’s compensation structure.” <br /><br />Steve Vairma, Teamsters international vice president, said Hammergren’s compensation is an insult to the company’s front-line workers. <br /><br />“Hammergren’s staggering $159 million pension and $50 million/year total compensation is a slap in the face to so many McKesson workers who have no pension at all and cannot even afford to contribute to their 401 (k) plan or pay for health care coverage for their families,” said Vairma, who is also director of the IBT Warehouse division, which represents some 1,500 McKesson workers across the U.S. and Canada. <br /><br />Chris Rauber at the <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2013/07/mckesson-shareholders-re-elect-all.html" rel="nofollow">San Francisco Business Times</a> has the story about CtW Investment Group’s demands:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Both demands were made in an Aug. 5 letter from CtW's Executive Director <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/search/results?q=Dieter%20Waizenegger" rel="nofollow">Dieter Waizenegger</a> to <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/search/results?q=Edward%20Mueller" rel="nofollow">Edward Mueller</a>, McKesson's lead independent director, a role created after an earlier round of pressure on the San Francisco-based drug distribution and health care IT giant. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2013/07/mckesson-shareholders-re-elect-all.html" rel="nofollow">CtW said last week's vote</a> by shareholders at McKesson's annual meeting showed that "shareholders rejected the board's work in extraordinarily strong numbers." It said 78 percent voted against management's position on executive pay, 53 percent supported strengthening the company's policies to "clawback" executive compensation in the wake of executive misdeeds, and 40 percent voted against Irby's re-election to the board. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Last week, <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/search/results?q=Scott%20Zdrazil" rel="nofollow">Scott Zdrazil</a>, director of corporate governance for <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/profiles/company/us/dc/washington/amalgamated_bank/3290173" rel="nofollow">Amalgamated Bank</a>, a union-owned institution that oversees a fund that owns a significant chunk of McKesson stock, said the July 31 shareholders' vote "may be the first clawback proposal to ever receive majority support" from a company's investors. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">The Aug. 5 letter to McKesson's lead independent director said Hammergren's huge pension was the driving force behind what CtW called "a clear referendum" last week against flaws in executive compensation policies at the company, adding that the benefit "provides no clear alignment with the interests of shareholders."</blockquote>

CEO Pay McKesson Union investors demand resignation of McKesson compensation committee chairman

A union investment group affiliated with the Teamsters says the $159 million pension given to McKesson’s CEO is cause for the compensation c...

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Teamsters to protest against McKesson worker retaliation

McKesson Corporation will face a large Teamster protest tomorrow outside its shareholder meeting in San Francisco tomorrow because it abuses workers at its distribution facility in Lakeland, Fla. Though McKesson employees voted for Teamster representation more than a year ago, the company still will not agree to a first contract that provides decent wages and affordable health care.<br /><br />McKesson, the largest pharmaceutical distributor in North America is retaliating against its Lakeland employees,. The company hired a union-busting law firm and has threatened and intimidated the workers rather than agree to wages they can live on.<br /><br />The San Francisco-based pharmaceutical distributor is a poster child for corporate greed and corruption.<br />Accused of stealing from taxpayers and payors by fixing drug prices, it had to pay nearly $1 billion in legal settlements. Then the board allowed CEO John Hammergren to loot the company of roughly $50 million a year, with a pension estimated at $159 billion.<br /><br />Tomorrow, McKesson will also face an investor backlash inside the shareholder meeting over the company’s excessive executive pay practices and poor corporate governance. The Change to Win Investment Group has called for a vote against Hammergren – as well as two other board members – because of the company’s pay practices and financial and reputational risks arising from widespread price fixing allegations.<br /><br />Rome Aloise, Teamsters international vice president and president of Teamsters Joint Council 7, said it's no wonder health care costs are rising.<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Teamsters won’t stand by while McKesson fleeces workers, investors and the American public.</blockquote>Stay tuned. <br /><div><br /></div>

CEO Pay low wage workers union busting Teamsters to protest against McKesson worker retaliation

McKesson Corporation will face a large Teamster protest tomorrow outside its shareholder meeting in San Francisco tomorrow because it abuses...

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