Re: Golly Gee Beav, the poor are gettin

[Jon Flanders <72763.2240@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

 >> "focus groups," each of which studied the issues and came up with a
question to ask one of the experts. During the course of the night,
 at least three of the designated questioners mentioned the growing wealth
inequality in the country as an obvious problem, and asked what could be done
about it. <<Rahul Majahan

 Jon Flanders:


  This is a real issue in the rail industry, where a decade long profit
revival has poured money into the hands of executives.

   According to Association of American Railroads chairman Edwin Harper "rail
workers, track, freight cars, and locomotives are all more productive today
than at any time in modern history.  This has made railroads more competitive
and laid the groundwork for the very real growth our industry is now
experiencing."

  A recent article documented the pay of the CEO of CSX, one of the Class 1
freight roads that covers the south and west of the United States.

 >> John W. Snow, chairman and chief executive of Richmond-based
 CSX Corp., earned nearly $5 million in 1995, a 43 percent gain over $3.5
 million in 1994, when he was the area's highest-paid corporate executive.

 Part of the increase was due to a 31 percent jump in the value of CSX
 stock. Much of Snow's pay, like that of an increasing number of U.S.
 corporate executives, is in company stock or is linked to stock performance.

 The strong performance of CSX stock was reflected in Snow's long-term
 stock incentive payout of $1.8 million, which was up from $1.4 million in
 1994.

 His biggest gain came in the bonus: In 1994, he received a cash bonus of
 $1.07 million, while in 1995, he received a bonus of $1.69 million in a
 restricted stock award. That included a 25 percent premium paid as an
 incentive for choosing stock over cash.

 Snow's base pay in 1995 was $896,000, a 10 percent increase over 1994.

 With other annual compensation, the total reached $4.99 million.

 That was twice what Snow earned in 1992 and more than three times what
 he earned in 1990, his first year as top executive of the transportation
 giant.<<
          Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va. 04-29-96



  In contrast, the unions estimate a loss of about 12 percent in real wages of
rail workers in the last decade. The current contract proposals will not
reverse the slide. This is why the members of the United Transportion union
voted their contract down, despite a leadership recommendation.

  The disparity of wealth will become explosive in the next
recession-depression when wage cuts and more concessions are demanded of the
workforce. Right now there is plenty of grumbling, but as long as token wage
increases get handed out, someone like a rail worker making 30-40 thousand a
year is unlikely to go to the wall over CEO compensation.

  We have an instance, in Switzerland, of wage cuts actually being proposed.
The Swiss national railroad is proposing a 4 percent cut to solve a deficit
problem. Let the US railroads, with their hefty profit history, try that here
and you will see some trouble.








  E-mail from: Jonathan E. Flanders, 16-Jul-1996




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