Five Ford Execs Pull Down $60m; UAW Not Pleased
And that $60m does NOT include Bill Ford's deferred tens of millions. Anyway, United Auto Workers (UAW) Boss Big Ron Gettelfinger is not well pleased with Ford suits' '07 compensation– given his members' buyouts, two-tier wage deals and all. Automotive News [sub] gives the inside skinny on FoMoCo exec compensation for their five top talents and it certainly seems a touch… generous. Ford CEO Al Mulally is the conductor on the bank laughter express, pulling down $21.7m including "salary, bonuses, company-recognized expense for stock options and other stock awards, plus other compensation such as vehicle and travel expenses. CFO Don Leclair was Ford's second-highest paid executive, earning $11.7 million in total compensation… Americas President Mark [Tool Time] Fields was paid a total of $8.4 million. That included $1.3 million in salary and $2.9 million in incentive bonus awards." Apparently, Gettelfinger considers the pay-outs "excessive and unjustified." Well, The Blue Oval Boyz did lose $2.7b during the payment period.
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Same old story, execs fail upwards. Unlike the guys on the shop floor there are no consequences for not doing your job. However many may argue that execs are being rewarded for their willingness to sell their integrity, self respect and more on that long climb to the top.
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The average Joe in the US cannot even afford the cars/trucks that Ford or anyone makes for that matter-and the fat cows in the glass towers just keep getting fatter and fatter off of the stocks and bonuses and golden parachutes that they all have. I say get rid of them all-and let real car guys run Detroit and do what has to be done to make reliable cars and do it within an average Joes salary. Once upon a time AMERICANS could buy a decent car for $ 8,000-10,000 dollars. and now all we're paying for is for the UAW to pay their employees salaries/pensions/health care; and for the fat cows to keep getting fatter. So where's it gonna end ? When a sub-compact costs an average of 14,000-17,000 dollars now; and people cannot even afford cars much less gas and insurance-but CEO'S can go purchase 3rd world countries on their bonus's alone-something's wrong with this picture.
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Third—I do not begrudge someone making money if it is earned—lets stay away from “wealth envy” and thinly veiled class warfare discussion. We will certainly have our fill of this lunacy during the upcoming election. You are correct in stating that one should not begrudge someone for earning their compensation, provided they earn it. In this case "Earning it" could be, in part, defined by how well your company performs. By any yardstick, Ford is not performing nearly as well as it should. If it were, most would not raise their eyebrows as much at the numbers. People recognize that some jobs simply are worth more than others. That is not wealth envy. As for this 'lunacy" being at the forefront of the election, I HOPE SO!! When the top 1% get 50% of the tax breaks, when Bear Sterns gets bailed out in a weekend while homeowners lose their houses due to predatory lending practices, there should be outrage. The Bush administration has done much to drive the middle class out of existence. I have no hope that either party is going to change much though. The wealthiest people have their hands on the power levers of the country so there is no incentive for any change.
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kjc117 : April 4th, 2008 at 8:52 pm LOL, and people still buy Fords. The answer to the above statement is: Some people just never seem to learn. But i guess some people are learning about FoMoCo as it is losing customers each month (consistantly) for several years now and losing them faster than the Titanic sank. With this type and kind of management (thanks to the mis-management of and by the Ford family and board of directors) , is it any wonder FoMoCo is going to Hell in a handbasket and doing it fast? I just wonder how long and when (not if) FoMoCo will file chapter 11? Should someone start writing the eulogy and obit now? Maybe FoMoCo should change it's name to Titanic?
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