___ Why is it that the public will
- geream to high heaven at

,. modest wage increases unions °

win for their members and yet
silently ignore the outrageous
salaries and bonuses corpora-
tions pay to their top
executives?

And they are outrageous.
Paul Blumberg, in an article
entitled ‘‘Another Day,
Another $3,000: Executive
Salaries in America’’, listed
the salaries and bonuses of a
number of executives in 1975,
~ 1976 and 1977.

First of all he pointed out a
great number of the top execu-
tives set their own salaries
and their board of directors
rubber stamp the amount.

In 1975, Meshulam Riklis, the
chairman of Rapid-American
Corp., paid himself a salary of
$366,000. On top of this he was
paid a bonus of $550,000 for a
total direct compensation of
$916,000. 2

ITT chairman Harold S.
Geneen, whose salary in 1975
was $414,000 also received a
bonus of $362,000 a total of
776,000. He improved this in
1976 with a salary of $421,000
plus a bonus of $425,000, for a

combined sum of $846,000.

On top of this he was heard to
say that people believed his ob-
jective was to be a million-dol-
lar-a-year man but they were
wrong. He felt that maybe the
figure should be five million a
year because he felt he deserv-
ed it.

Another little gimmick corp-
orations use to up the income of
their top executives, is the
notorious use of stock options.

In 1950 Congress amended
the tax code, granting favour-
able tax treatment to execu-
tives who were rewarded with
shares of their company’s
stock. According to a Senate
report at the time, Congress
offered preferential (i.e., long-
term capital gains) treatment
for stock options in order to
“convert (corporate) officers
into “partners” by giving them
a stake in the business’ and to
give to employees generally “‘a
more direct interest in the suc-
cess of the corporation.”

ANOTHER $3,000”

In its simplest terms, a
stock-option grant is a right
given to an executive to pur-
chase a given amount of his
company’s stock, at some time
in the future, at a price speci-
fied on the date the option is
granted. Thus, an executive of
a corporation is granted an op-

tion November 15,-1978 to buy

10,000 shares of his company’s
stock at its marked price on
that day of $50 per share:

If the executive exercises his
option to purchase the stock
two years later and its market
price has risen to $75, this

-executive is able to buy the

stock at the original option
price of $50 per share.

If they hold on to the stock
for a least three years after
purchase, and follow other

routine IRS requirement, the ~

earning eventually realized on
the sale of that stock will quali-
fy for the long-term capital -
gains tax rate.

The sheer number of shares
offered to executives on option
is enormous, and ‘made rich
men of a lot of executives.

For example, the chairman
of General Dynamics earned
just $400,000 in 1975 in salary
and bonus, but in that year he
exercised his option to buy
General Dynamics stock. The
price for the stock was $2
million at a time when the
current market price was $4.2
million, five times his salary
and bonus and probably tax-
able at the capital-gains rate.

In 1976, the president of
Texas Instruments earned less
than $164,000 in salary and
bonus, but he exercised his op-
tion to buy Texas Instruments
stock, paying $2.7 million for
stock that was worth $5.9 mil-
lion — a potential gain of over
$3 million in one year.

Canadian executives are
given the same generous stock
options, fat salaries and bonus-
es.

The next time you hear
someone complaining about
excessive union demands think
what pikers workers are
compared to your good old top
executives.

HOUSE OF COMMONS

Tuesday, March 21, 1978
GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURES

Mailing of Liberal Party pamphlet with family
allowance and pension cheques—motion under S.O. 43

Mr. Edward Broadbent (Oshawa-Whitby): Mr. Speaker,
Irise under the provisions of Standing Order 43. In view of
the fact that six million family allowance recipients and old

age

ioners will receive with this month’s cheque an

1 ted Liberal party pamphlet provides a one-sided,
partisan description of the economic policies of the
‘government of Canada, providing no information about

either family

allowances or old age pensions, and con-

 Sidering it will cost $100,00,000 to produce and mail the pre-

{ election pamphlet — money that is being taken out of the
tax revenues by the Liberal government — I move,
Seconded by the hon. member for Winnipeg North Centre

(Mr. ilies): :
_ That this House instructs the government to refer this
_ Matter to the Auditor General and the Chief Electoral Of-

ficer to ensure that this

pre-election expense is paid for by
Party of Canada.

Speaker: In accordance with the provisions or
g Order 43, such a motion can be presented for
ly with the unanimous consent of the House. Is

is consent?

: Agreed.

: No
* *

Former Local 1-80 First
Vice-President Hugh Robin-
son, has been hired on a
temporary basis by the Re-
gional Council to look after ap-
prenticeship and ‘tradesmen’s
problems.

Hugh will work out of the Re-
gional office in Vancouver.
ee ee ee ee)

Retiring Canadian Labour
Congress president Joe Morris
has blasted hints from employ-
ment minister Bud Cullen that
a means test may be estab-
lished to determine a person’s
eligibility to collect unemploy-
ment insurance.

Cullen said an advisory
council was studying the ques-
tion in the Commons Apr. 3.

“T think we have to take a
look at both sides of the issue to
determine (whether it) would
be in the best interests of the
plan to cut off people who are,

- for example, over a particular

salary level, from receiving
unemployment insurance,”
Cullen said in reply to a ques-
tion.

But Morris said in an inter-
view that he opposes the
changes because the program
is supposed to be based on in-
surance principles and _ be-
cause the proposed changes
would violate the concept of
universality. :

“How can you have a means
test for insurance?” Morris
asked. ‘‘The unemployment in-
surance program is a program
where people pay for insurance
against unemployment. They
should be able to get insurance
without a means test.”

Morris said contributions to
the unemployment insurance
fund are universal, and pay-
ments from it should continue
to be made to all who needed
them.

‘People should be entitled to
payments no matter what their
level of earnings,” he said.
“Tsn’t that what insurance is
all about?’’

Morris said the unemploy-
ment insurance scheme ‘‘is not
a welfare scheme. It’s financed

‘in the main jointly by em-

ployers and workers.”

THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

WITH A MILLION JOBLESS

CANADA IMPORTING
JAMAICAN WORKERS

KINGSTON, March 31

An inter-governmental ad-
ministrative arrangement to
govern the Commonwealth
Caribbean seasonal agricul-
tural workers programme for
an initial three-year period has
been signed here by Jamaica’s
Labour Minister, William
Isaacs and the Canadian
Minister of Employment and
Immigration, Mr. Bud Cullen.

The novel 13-point agree-
ment has been formulated by
both Governments to give sta-
bility and continuity to the pro-
gramme and avoid the uncer-
tainty of year-to-year negotia-
tions, it was_ officially an-
nounced.

The programme provides for
the placing of Jamaicans on
Canadian farms to work on a
contract basis.

Their terms and conditions
of employment will be sub-
jected to an annual review by
both governments as well as
other Caribbean countries,
with a view to making any
changes for the improvement
of the programme.

Mr. Cullen is due in Trinidad
this week.

The Jamaican Government,
through the Ministry of La-
bour, will also cooperate with
these countries regarding their
allocations for the programme.

Another clause of the agree-
ment signed Tuesday provides
for the appointment of agents

to Canada to ensure the smooth
functioning of the programme.

Further talks on the possi-
bility of including women in the
farm workers programme,
also took place. Representa-
tions on this matter had been
made by Mr. Isaacs when he
visited Canada in November,
last year. __

Foreign Minister, P. J. Pat-
terson, who was present at the
signing ‘expressed the hope
that following from this agree-
ment, other forms of coopera-
tion would materialise between
Jamaica and Canada.

In his reply, Mr. Cullen com-
mended fhe calibre of the
workers who have been par-
ticipating in the programme
and welcomed the agreement
in the interest of the smoother
running of the programme.

The programme, began in
1966. Over this period approxi-
mately 17,500 workers have
participated and earned some
$24 million dollars. — (Cana)
Editor’s note:

The above news clipping was
sent to the Lumber Worker by
retired Local 1-288 member
John Howden who also re-
ported that one of the
Jamaican workers who was
sent to Canada under the plan,
informed him that he was
given work in a pulp mill in
Quebec, had his fair paid both
ways and given a money allow-
ance while out .of work.

SORWUC Local 1 has been
certified to represent em-
ployees of- Muckamuck Res-
taurant. Notice to bargain has
been given by the Union.
Muckamuck is a Vancouver
restaurant specializing in na-
tive Indian food. All of the staff
are native people, though the
owners are not.

“We joined SORWUC
because we wanted job secur-
ity and better working condi-
tions,’”’ said a union member
and employee of Muckamuck.
‘We needed a union contract
because it is the only way we
are guaranteed a say in our
working conditions.’’ ‘‘We
joined SORWUC because it is a
union that lets us draw up our
own contract to reflect our own
situation.”

“One of the biggest problems
is scheduling, the way itis now,
some of us don’t know from one
day to the next what our hours
will be. In fact, we’re told that
we could lose our jobs if we
don’t have a phone — that’s
how bad the scheduling ‘is
here.” :

“We hear a lot here about
how we are one big happy
family, but then we also get
told that if we’re not happy, we
can be replaced.”’

“Since the Union was certi-

fied, we have started getting

our regular breaks — but it
used to be that we could work a
7% hour shift without a break,
and it is a busy restaurant. We
still don’t get staff meals and
we aren’t supposed to bring our
own food into the restaurant.”

There are a lot of other little
rules too, like you can’t sit on
the stairs and rest your feet for
a minute, and you aren’t sup-
posed to taik to staff in the
back hall!”

“Job security is also a big
issue. Since the union drive
started, four people have been
fired, and union members at
Muckamuck consider this to be
intimidation by the employer.
The Union has filed unfair la-
bour practices with the Labour
Relations Board over the
firings.”

‘We need a voice in our
scheduling and working condi-
tions — we have the right to
plan our personal lives around
our job, and we need to know
when we are going to work so
we can do that — as well as
budget our finances.”

“Now that we are certified _
with SORWUC, we hope that
our management will listen to
us and respect our requests for
changes in our working condi-
tions.”

eS eR)

QUEBEC (CPA) — The
number of accidental work-
place deaths in Quebec was
down 20% in 1977 over compar-
able figures for 1976, according
to statistics released by the

Workmen’s

Compensation
Board. - e