Honda to cut managers' salaries 5%

[Coventina]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Tokyo -- Honda Motor Co. said Monday that managers' salaries would be slashed 5% starting next month to cope with sliding sales. The cut comes on top of the 10% pay reduction for directors announced last month.

The move affects about 4,800 managers at Honda group companies in Japan, but not those hired by Honda's overseas units, the company said. The reduction continues through May, and what happens after that is still undecided, it said.

Japan's No. 2 automaker has been battered by the plunge in demand in major auto markets including the U.S. The rising yen also hurts Japanese exporters by reducing their overseas earnings.

Last week, Honda slashed its profit forecast for the fiscal year ending in March by 57% to 80 billion yen ($890 million) from an earlier expectation of 185 billion yen ($2 billion).

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-honda3-2009feb03,0,4804642.story

[Kittycat]

1. Wow - so they wouldn't rather lay off 10K employees to make up that small bit of manager salary?

[Robb]

2. In the words of Opus

...Accountability is un-American.

[jfkraus]

3. Have you notice any

announcements that any of the American companies who are laying people off are also decreasing manager salaries?

** chirp chirp **
** chirp chirp **
** chirp chirp **

[jimmybama]

5. What a novel idea!?

Obviously Japan is drifting away from Reaganomics, rampant
neo-fascist corporatist GREED. Cut out bonusses altogether. I
didn't get a bonus for not losing my ass yet in this economic
environment. I have run my household better than these elite
CEOs have bankrupt their companies. Fight Hard!!

[spinbaby]

6. Didn't Disney lay off managers?

I seem to remember something in the news recently about Disney ditching a great many managers. Don't remember the details.

[karynnj]

7. I know at least one small and one mid sized company that did this as well

Many private companies will not announce internal issues like this.

[Dawgs]

4. Kind of thing we should see from every major corporation that is considering layoffs.

But, I'd rather see 10% for managers and 5% for everyone else.

[Auggie]

8. What about their dividend?

[Robbien]

9. Well, they are reporting a profit of $890 mil for 2008

but they are cutting fourth quarter dividend in half to 11 yen/share.

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2153059/

[Auggie]

11. So the shareholders suffer too... a little.

[RobinA]

10. Here's An Idea

Cut prices. I have a fairly secure job for lousy but not horrible money. I have decent benefits that I pay a lot for. Prices of everything but gas are going up. I have school loans. I need a new car, which I usually pay for in part with money I save in mutual funds, but.....you know what happened to that. I don't need a car payment, but am hesitant to touch the 30%-reduced-in-value savings money. Lower the car price and I might think I'm getting a deal and be willing to use the deflated savings.

Also, offer me a nice color car that isn't dark, dark or dark or gray, gray or gray. Just because the economy is depressed doesn't mean my car has to be.