The REAL "union thugs": Organized Management

[brentspeak]

Did you know that the leadership of Corporate America has its own unions? They're called "senior executives" and "boards of directors", and they often collude with one another and with the executives and boards of directors of other major corporations to reward one another at the expense of their employees, their investors, and even, on occasion, taxpayers.

Thomas J. Donohue, CEO of the US Chamber of Commerce, perfectly encapsulates Organized Management's thug culture:

http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/pressroomredirect.cfm?ID=1881

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Tom Donohue has a vested interest in the national campaign to limit corporate accountability because the U.S. Chamber of Commerce president sits on the boards of two scandal-ridden corporations, according to a Public Citizen report released today.

Though Donohue has proclaimed the importance of board members serving as watchdogs for the corporations they manage, he sits on the boards of two publicly traded companies – Qwest Communications International Inc. and Union Pacific Corp. – whose reputations have been marred by serious misdeeds that have prompted the type of civil lawsuits that Donohue is trying to limit. Between them, the two companies have engaged in a monumental deception of investors, violated federal and state regulations on a massive scale, jeopardized public safety, and perverted the American judicial system through alteration and destruction of evidence.

snip

Among Public Citizen’s findings:

- Qwest has paid $250 million to settle fraud charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for overstating earnings, has paid $25 million to settle five lawsuits concerning alleged insider trading and still faces billions of dollars in potential civil litigation liabilities.
- Since Donohue joined Qwest’s board, the company has been assessed more than $114 million in fines by 10 states and the Federal Communications Commission for defrauding consumers and for failing to disclose secret business dealings.
- Instead of punishing Qwest’s corporate executives, Donohue and his fellow board members rewarded them with higher pay packages. Qwest’s board of directors has received dismal ratings from two independent research organizations for furnishing executives with exorbitant pay packages despite poor corporate performance. Donohue sits on the board’s compensation committee.

Since Donohue joined the Union Pacific board in 1998, the company has repeatedly been found liable in accidents resulting from poor training or unsatisfactory upkeep of tracks, has pressured workers not to report accidents, and has been deemed responsible by courts for manipulating or destroying evidence.

snip

Again, Donohue and fellow board members appear to have rewarded Union Pacific executives with ever higher pay. An independent research organization last year recommended against retaining Donohue as a board member because of his role on the compensation committee in boosting executives’ pay.

[Overseas]

1. Well said. Organized Management is far more thuggish.

And wouldn't you know-- the head of the Chamber leads by example.

[Scuba]

2. K&R