CAT also illustrates the completely out of proportion executive compensation compared to hourly workers. Last year their CEO made 17 million dollars in total compensation. Annual pay of about 6 million plus bonuses. This one guy could take care of this stike out of his own paycheck and still have muti-millions left, just from this one year. Say CAT gives each of the 780 workers a .50 hourly pay raise in each year of this 6 year contract. That's 811,200 per year, 4,867,200 over the 6 year span. Let's throw in another 3 million for O.T. worked over those years. Round it out to 8 million total cost for the six years of hourly compensation. That leaves Mr. CEO with 9 million bucks, and again, that's just his pay for one year. If this is what capitalism has to offer the average American, one can understand why they might be a wee bit disenchanted with a system that has left them behind simply because of corportate greed. There is no other explanation.
The owners of CAT have to compete for executive talent with every other business out there, and government. This compensation reflects the scarcity of such talent.
Possibly you can. All you need to do now is convince the owners of that. I assume you'll underbid the current CEO candidates (not that CAT is looking), so you should be a shoe-in!
Again, you do not understand the business that CAT is in. I am not being condescending. CAT is in construction. All they have to do is present their equipment to markets where growth is happening. The stuff CAT builds will never go out of style, and will never be obsolete. They simply have to get there first with their equipment. Do yourself a favor. Google CAT. They were making record profits when everyone else was worried about solvency. I have personally heard what CAT does to it's retirees. Imagine someone who worked a lifetime at CAT suddenly find out the rules have changed. Now, here in the Midwest, people will take a lot of pain if it is for the common good. But CAT, I have been told, do things to people not because they may go under, but because they will not make their profit margins. People in the Midwest have given their lives to CAT. Google what CAT did to repay them.
Actually I would want more. Anyone with some mfg. background, decent organizational skills, and some business sense can run CAT. It's the middle management and front line supervision that will make or break the company. CEO's are nothing but figureheads.
Interesting thread that raises several issues. I don' t know the specifics of the CAT strike, but I do know there have been rumblings that they would move their HQ to texas or some other more corporate friendly locale. It's crazy in a way for them to hang around a state that is turning more socialist by the week and going down the toilet. So I wonder if they maybe are playing hardball with these workers to send a message. Maybe they want to be able to point to labor strife as a justification to move. On the other hand, I have little sympathy for unions these days. I do think it is unfair for a company to lay off workers after 20 years or so of service so they can hire cheaper young people or foreigners. I get it that people join unions in part to protect themselves against that kind of BS. I also believe that, as some one else said, these are plum jobs that the company could replace in a day if these workers quit. These workers are not even competing against the unemployed guy down the block who would gladly take their job at lower wages. They're competing aginst highly motivated workers in china and the far east who will do it for a fraction of what they are getting, and with a lot less hassle from the government in the bargain. As for CEO pay, I have repeatedly railed against it. The CAT CEO is probably not out of line, and he has done a good job, but as CO points out, it';s not exatly a job that requires the next Steve Jobs. He's overpaid but not as much as a lot of corporate America.