What we're talking about

Phil of Springwood on "He's a dog..." @Bigfellah, with your permission, I would like to add that I thank you sincerely for acknowledging my success at being a ... more
Bella on Preferential voting FIRST PAST THE POST ~ is not as democratic as you may like to think.In a preferential system every registered voters final ... more
steve on A few facts on illegal boat people Hey Wendy - I'm an immigrant - I've lived here for 40 years and have learned to ignore people with attitudes like yours but ... more
James Weir on A few facts on illegal boat people Wendy, I'm surprised anyone lives in Adelaide. Even the Welsh born redheads are getting out of the place. more
Phil of Springwood on "He's a dog..." @Bigfellah. Again in typical Socialist Fashion, you are denying me my right to form an opinion. Mr. and Mrs. Newton ... more
Meg on "He's a dog..." I believe that any ordinary person who assaults women would have been charged and jailed not sent to rehab. Has Matthew ... more
Wendy on A few facts on illegal boat people Look around..In Adelaide now, you cannot spot an Aussie. Everywhere you look its Chinese/Asians, Indians and Pakistani's. ... more
bigfella on "He's a dog..." Hi z,The point is: How the heck would Phil of Springwood know what sort of parents Bert and Patti were to their son? For all ... more
z on Bob Brown Lazarus Where is the costings that they demand of everyone else, thier 5 minutes of fame will be up shortley more
Shanelle on System failure The whole system is stuffed. I have been apart of it for 10years now and still im confused. Im in a bad place at the moment ... more
James Weir on Barnaby Joyce How many Clem 7's would you like in your Super Fund, Barnaby? It lost $1.5B in it's current reporting period. Only Govts can ... more
Steve Martin on "He's a dog..." Rebecca Wilson as per normal is just plain out of touch.The hitting of women is wrong but personalising this with "he's a ... more
Ronny Of Brighton QLD on Preferential voting MichaelIve just come back from a holiday.That bloke Dean Jaensch Siad that if someone(call Him RONNY) had 40% he said 60% of ... more
z on Preferential voting the way it is working at the moment is the first loser joins with 2nd loser and so on untill they beat the winner, so a ... more
brisman on Bob Brown The guy is not green he absolutley red through to the core. His environmental visions are shallow and don't serve ... more
z on "He's a dog..." bigfella, Phil of Springwood is not talking from so called flippantly expertise, Ivory tower stuff but more from commonsense ... more
robert goodchild on Support our Diggers the sticker Idea is great.I would happily part with $20 for one and would like to see the profit go to families who have ... more
Phil of Springwood on "He's a dog..." Hey Bigfella, back again so soon after your mobs magnificent defeat by the Tories, I thought you and the rest of your Left ... more
z on "He's a dog..." Hey Phil, why don't you say what you really mean more
bigfella on "He's a dog..." Congratulations to Phil of Springwood,We've become accustomed to his astute political and social commentaries based on ... more

CEO golden parachutes

Posted by: Michael Smith | 27 November, 2008 - 12:21 PM

Well Gerry Harvey has the quote of the day. He's talking about the $112 million that Australian public companies have paid to get rid of unwanted bosses in the past 3 years. Here's what Gerry has to say:-

"It is absolute bullshit. Chief executives are paid ridiculous amounts of money and then when they do a crap job they get ridiculous amounts of money to leave," he said.

Our corporate culture is sick. It needs fixing. And like the old dead fish, it's going off from the top.

Australian boards of directors are too insular. Too matey. Look at Sol Trujillo and Don McGauchie from Teltstra.

The sweetheart deals CEOs and their boards make just beggars belief. Last year 66% of Telstra shareholders specifically voted against the pay deal for Telstra's CEO Sol Trujillo – but that vote by the owners of the company has no effect under our law.

As we head into choppier economic waters the potential for the great divide between workers and bosses grows. Workers will be looking for wage rises – bosses will be trying to keep wages low to get through the harder times. I am continually shocked at the “do as I say not as I do” approach taken by too many of our CEOs and boards of directors.

Many of our CEOs would do well to lead by example and deliver themselves a pay cut during these times. In particular, the outrageous departure packages CEOs set up for themselves have to go.

Blog comments

I couldn't agree more as a salesman I have always been judged on my results and over the years have watched friends go for not living up to the required standards They get paid what they are entitled - a fortnight's pay and what ever leave acrued. These other clowns go out with millions and then 12 months later show up on another board as if nothing has happened. I always thought we were an egalitarian country but I am convinced that the old boys clubs run our corporations and companies

John H Wednesday 3 December, 2008 - 5:53 PM