In the case of McKesson Corp., CEO John Hammergren was planning on taking home $51.7 million. 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 Teamsters, meanwhile, can't afford healthcare and are facing McKesson's high-priced union busters.
Shareholders knew about the disparity and voted against McKesson's lavish pay at the July shareholder meeting.
Exposing the gross inequality between CEOs and workers can 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.
Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall sent a letter to the SEC endorsing its proposal on the CEO-to-worker pay ratio. According to teamster.org,
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.
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: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.
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.
- a better way to assess the board of directors who set executive pay;
- a correlation between compensation practices throughout companies and morale and productivity; and,
- an important way to measure CEO pay for advisory proxy votes on executive compensation plans.
“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.
