Teamsters at McKesson In Year Two of Contract Fight While CEO Takes $159M Pension Benefit

[Omaha Steve]

http://wepartypatriots.com/wp/2013/08/08/teamsters-at-mckesson-in-year-two-of-contract-fight-while-ceo-takes-159m-pension-benefit/

The Teamsters’ affiliated investment group Change to Win (CtW) is calling for the resignation of McKesson director and compensation committee chairman Alton Irby and for a renegotiation of McKesson CEO John Hammergren’s $159 million pension benefit. The group says the moves should be made “as part of a comprehensive overhaul of the company’s compensation structure.” The Teamsters union represents 1,500 warehouse workers in the United States and Canada.

The request comes as McKesson workers in Lakeland, FL fight for a fair contract nearly two years after voting to be represented by the Teamsters. Without a fair first contract, many front-line workers at McKesson are unable to pay health insurance or into their 401(k) retirement plans. With McKesson hiring union-busting firms and retaliating against workers who voted to organize, CtW wants to see changes made to Hammergen’s outrageous benefits package until workers can have fair benefits of their own. According to Teamsters International Vice President Steve Vairma, “Hammergren’s staggering $159 million pension and $50 million/year total compensation is a slap in the face to so many McKesson workers who have no pension at all and cannot even afford to contribute to their 401 (k) plan or pay for health care coverage for their families.”

In early July, CtW called for the Board of Directors to vote against the reelection of Alton Brown, Jane Shaw and John Hammergren. After votes of the meeting became public, CtW called for the resignation of Irby and the restructuring of Hammergen’s pension plan noting the low level of support from shareholders. According to their August 5th letter to McKesson, 78 percent of shareholders rejected management’s say-on-pay proposal and 53 supported strengthening the company’s policies to clawback executive compensation in the wake of executive misdeeds. Despite the shareholder votes of no confidence, McKesson directors took no action .

The situation as explained by Chris Rauber of the San Francisco Business Times:

FULL story at link.

[Mr. David]

1. CEOs like him needs to spend a LONG time in prison, and bankrupt, devoid of any single dollar

or a penny, Forever.

They can eat what crap they serve in a maximum security prison, without any privileges granted.

[Mr. David]

3. He committed the crime of screwing the workers and keeping every single profits for himself.

Fuck him.

If he was a fair and reasonable person like Craig Jelinick or Jim Sinegal, they did not need millions, they only paid themselves a reasonable salaries and gave everyone a fair wage and benefits - that is why you see very little turnover in Costco.

[ceonupe]

6. Ok I'll take that as

He did not comit a crime but I don't like him because he has and makes more money by denying others what they want so you believe he should lose his freedom?

Because that is what my post is about.

[Omaha Steve]

4. I guess your small business won't get a union

This story is about the workers not getting a contract while the boss laughs all the way to the bank. How many people do you manage in your small business?

This is not the first time we have been on opposite sides of the labor issue. Are you sure your a progressive Dem?

OS

[ceonupe]

5. My response was to a posters statement

Last edited Thu Aug 8, 2013, 08:06 PM - Edit history (3)

I see the personal digs.

But really what did he do to be out in prision some of you on DU act like the crazy nut in batman wanting to send everyone you view as not worthy of their gains in life to death or prision.

We have a nation of laws and locking people up because we are made they make more money or don't support our cause is 100% not American.

Again I ask what laws did he break if he did break laws prosocutor him.

But to say he needs to go to jail because his bosses (BoD) gave him a compensation package that is very large while he does not support the workers union is not illegal.

Look I'm not aginst going after those that break the law but the clear wealth hate on DU is sick and is 100% not progressive if anything it's regressive.

As to me personally I practice what I believe daily. We have under 30 full time employees across 3 locations now.(1 main 2 branches) Our lowest paid employee is a dispatcher and they make about $15 and hour starting out. We also have a plan that provides training for advancement free of cost and on the clock (yes free paid training) so in 6-9 months that person at 15 is usually migrated to a position paying closer to 16-18. We pay half of health care now (working towards 100%) we also provide 8 paid hours of volunteering a month to all employees at $15 per hour flat. All they have to do is turn in the form with details about their service. Oh and yes we are a diverse company if still majority young black males (70% of staff is under 35 and African American and male). We also have invested in 2 company's started by former employees that we also do business with. If you are ever in Fayetteville, NC message me and I'll give you a tour. While not google we do have lots of fun and even have a children's room at work for people who have an emergency and need to bring their child to work with them for a day or 2. (Ill admit dedicated a room in the office after my daughter was born, padded floors and lower walls, kids desk and toys, mounted TV ). Our team chooses or qtr incentives.we have 401k with a rather large match and we also have an ER car fund at the office employees can borrow from interest free up to $1500 for car repairs. All they have to do is have the repair shop call the office and we provide payment and just deduct over the next 3 pay periods.

And also because while I'm the owner I'm actively involved in the business and have a technical background myself I am very in tune with what my staff wants/needs. It's in my best interest to keep staff happy. Our secret to delivering great service to our customers is having happy employees that are free to focus on solving customer problems and always providing paths for growth both at the employee level and the whole company.

So yeah my spelling sucks and I often take a more pro-business stance than some but its because I know all business owners aren't jerks and aren't taking advantage of their employees.

Oh and our secret to getting thru the credit crunch and recession is simple. We are 100% organically financed. Unheard that right out side of corporate credit card awe use and pay off our growth is filed by our revenue. It meant slower growth at first and it also meant I took a regular paycheck and reinvest pretty much everything year over year.only recently have I begun to be paid some of the profits as dividends and to reduce effective tax rate. Oh and market pay in our are for what we do is at least 20% less than what I pay.

By the way both my parents ran small businesses they owned my mom Is a dentist my father was in real estate/ins/mort he is retired but I clearly remember their employees always being treated right and not much office drama. To this day I am told I run a business and treat people well like my grandfather and father before me.

So yeah I may be a small business but i like to think we at my company do a good job of showing what a good job/career can be.

[Omaha Steve]

7. Maybe he hasn't been caught yet

It seems that several companies on Wall St broke laws that caused the crash. Most of them didn't go to jail.

[Omaha Steve]

8. I never said a word about your spelling

My grammar and punctuation aren't very good either. Glad to know your not what I thought you were for the last few weeks.

[Omaha Steve]

9. This reply is nothing like your post in early July

Remember this: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3206419

Former Hostess Employees Bitter About Wage Cuts (fork lift operator- $11 an hour)

18. why should they they are a business

It is not their job to keep wages artificially high or to continue to pay a rate that the market wont bare.

MAybe people shopping aren't willing to pay $1 more to buy twinkes made by higher paid workers. Maybe the competition from foreign made store brands has push the market for twinkes to the max price people are willing to pay for them.

Not all jobs stay at a pay rate or go up forever.

I wont blame the new company for the old company's policies. Its simple choice old company went belly up and left the unions and people with ZERO jobs. A new company comes in and offers jobs. Maybe they don't pay as well and maybe the benefits are not as good but its not a mark against the new company. Heck i know many jobs and professions that pay less now than what they did 5-10 years ago.

[ceonupe]

11. That is the reality

I many towns just like ours.

To update you I'm from Fayetteville, NC we are mostly a military town. We used to have manufacturing and mills as well. For many there aren't options.

My company can't employee everyone but we do unconventional things and do the with purpose. You may note we hired 2 formerly convicted felons (unheard of I know) both have careers and one owns a company we invested in after he left us. His business complements us and he is paying it forward as well employing others.

How is my post now different? People need jobs and when there are no options for people all sorts of social problems fester and communities die.

[Omaha Steve]

12. Several years ago the Hosstess workers took a pay freeze to pay for plant upgrades

Instead the $ went to an extra stock dividend and management bonuses. The last CEO they hired has a resume that shows he goes from one company to the next. Guts them. Bankrupts them. Moves on with cash for doing it. The Bain plan.

This was not a company that couldn't compete. It was management that didn't know how to do it's job both to the stockholders and the workers.

You talked about ($) the high wages. Today your post talks about your workers getting a fair wage in much the same scale the Hostess workers lost. No fault of their own.

OS

[ceonupe]

15. But also not

The fault of the new owners who took shut down plants and opened them.


Like I said in that thread maybe the new company does my have the scale or business to offer the same Beniffits maybe the previous owners sucked all the assets out and the cost of doing business for the new owner is much higher.

My main point then was atleast someone came to town and offered these good folks an option for employment. When factories shut dope it usually does not end so well and if its a company town it often means the town dies.

Yes we take pride in paying our staff more than the competition we also get premium employees out of offering better pay and benefits. But also we are relatively small in the grand scheme of things less than 5million in revenue annually and not quite 30 full time employees. I hope mainly via this company to help others grow themselfs provide for their family's have great vacations and do all the things I was able to do growing up and just assumed everyone else did. You see it was not until my parents sent me access town to the majority black high school i a high poverty area using a friends address did I understand the world more fully.

I fully understand now that part of my success comes from the opportunities my parents were able to provide to me and not everyone gets that head start. Yeah paying a dispatcher 30k a year won't make her rich but its a hell of a lot better than the $9.50 an hour she was making with no benefits. Plus in a few years there is no reason a driven dispatcher can't be trained into a project manger for the types of projects we run making close to 45-50k a year pre bonus. And the paid vacation time allows her to spend time with her kids on Christmas break and other breaks and be able to afford to go to the beach for a week. (You get $120 pretax extra money every month if you volunteer)

[Omaha Steve]

16. Then let the new owners open the books

Apollo Global Management has $14 billion in holdings.

C. Dean Metropoulos is worth 1.2 Billion.

Seems they could afford the old union scale.

[ceonupe]

17. you and i know

that is never gonna happen.

sometimes these funds save destroyed companies rebuild them and sell for big profit some times the just use them to load up debt. there are quite a fee companies we consider progressive that would not be around without private equity and hedge funds investing in them and turning them around.

I know not all firms are what we would call ethical to the workers but some actually do provide people who otherwise would have no or few job options something.

gotta be careful though its a balance. i wish those workers the but they way things are going with technology and "free trade" their days may be numbered. america better wake up no middle class means no body to carry the debt service that keeps this whole system running.I said that right the middle class with car loans credit cards and home loans litterailly provide not only the direct labor we also provide the 1% even more money just paying debt service.

[Omaha Steve]

19. It happens IF the workers organize

That is what this post started out about. A group of workers voted the union in. Now the CEO hires anti-union lawyers to stop the first contract and laughs all the way to the bank.

[ceonupe]

20. they dont get access to the parent companes books

just the hosteses entity. You think this group directly invested in to this with out going thru holding shell company to isolate it from other holdings?

these types of funds have literally thousands of LLC, corps and other business organizations to hold their investments.

the union will only get partial access to some of the holding hostess books.

[Omaha Steve]

21. Usually not even an honest set of books

Back to most private holdings are scum.

[leftstreet]

10. People who don't understand hyperbole should be thrown in jail!

Just kidding



I don't think the poster was being literal.

Hyperbole (/haɪˈpɜrbəliː/ hy-PUR-bə-lee;[1] Greek: ὑπερβολή hyperbolē, "exaggeration&quot is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is not meant to be taken literally.[2]

[ceonupe]

13. I get it now

Sorry for my rant but I really wanted done to know where I come from.

I don't just talk about stuff on the Internet I'm our here everyday living the American dream and trying to help others get there.

I happen to be a young black male and some of the original hires were people I knew personally that I could invest time and skills into as we grew. Most of the original team is still around. I'm proud to say that every day the people that work for me dispel the negative stereotypes of young black males. Because our team is highly competent certified and are great people persons (hard job requirement) we have a wide range of customers. We have a zero tolerance for discrimination policy.

[Rex]

14. That's almost 10,000 jobs at Mc Donalds.

Using the new system.

[PowerToThePeople]

18. 1,500 warehouse workers, $159Million. That is $100,000 each worker

F the CEO.