Many corporations fight vigorously against unions, claiming that they would ask too much in pay.
But executives and board members of these corporations never seem to recognize that they have a union that determines their own pay. I just checked the executive pay of Radio Shack - over $11 million for seven current and former executives for 2011. The board of ten grants each of its members $150,000 in stock each year. Talk about the foxes guarding the chicken coop.
Oh, yes, Radio Shack's stock dropped by a half over the past year. The above compensation is not pay for performance but kleptocracy - rule by thievery.
I single out Radio Shack because its proxy statement is the latest that I read. Corporation after corporation rewards their top executives and board members quite well regardless of how well the corporation fared.
If corporations are sending work to lower wage countries, why not send CEO jobs to countries like Sweden, Norway, France, or Belgium? CEOs in these countries average a third of less the total compensation of U.S. CEOs. See "CEO Compensation: US and other countries", Ben Lorica, last updated Oct 2011. Better yet, why not export the CEO jobs to India or China? I haven't checked, but I bet CEO pay is a lot lower than in Europe.
But things are changing. Citigroup shareholders voted no on the CEO's compensation. The shareholders of three other companies did likewise. As of today, a search of "Executive Pay" yields many articles about the ongoing revolt against CEO pay - from unions to church groups to large investors.
P.S. See "Director pay: how high can it go?", footnoted*, Michelle Leder, 2012-04-13.
