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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