AFL-CIO Pushing for Federal Regulation of Corporate Salaries
By: Matt, April 26th, 2006
Seeking to narrow the disparity between executive salaries and those of its constituents, the AFL-CIO released information recently about the most lucrative executive retirement deals in the country. “As corporate America is slashing workers’ pensions left and right, we think investors and the public should know about the huge pensions these CEOs are raking in,” said Ricahrd Trumka, secretary-treasurer of the union.
With that goal in mind, the AFL-CIO, which represents 9 million workers, posted information about executive salaries and retirement packages on its web site www.paywatch.org. Trumka noted that the average executive salary at S&P 500 companies is currently 400 times that of the average worker’s wages and that many executives also receive supplemental retirement plans at a time when workers’ pensions are being scaled back. Also according to Trumka, some of those supplemental deals reach as high as $6.5 million and are not tied to company profitability.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is currently lobbying for greater disclosure of executive salaries and perks, though the Commission’s interests tend more toward protecting investors who themselves have been angered by what is often seen as overly lucrative executive compensation. Trumka and the AFL-CIO are urging the SEC to require companies to publicize their standards for tying executive pay to performance.







