While pensions fall short, CEOs fly high

[Jon8503]

Ford, GM, United Airlines, Continental. They're just four of the companies struggling with falling profits and pension problems as their executives get huge payouts.

By Michael Brush

At companies across the country, workers are watching their pensions dwindle. At UAL’s (UALAQ, news, msgs) United Airlines, workers stand to lose more than $3 billion in promised benefits as the airline passes its pension obligations on to the government.

Unfunded pension obligations at Ford (F, news, msgs) have risen to a whopping $12.3 billion, and General Motors (GM, news, msgs) is looking at shortfalls of $7.5 billion.

In the executive suites of these companies, however, there's no pain to be found. United Airlines chief executives John Creighton, Jr. and Glenn Tilton collected $13.1 million in the two years leading up to its 2002 bankruptcy.

And while the pension pit grows at Ford, chief executive William Clay Ford Jr. has collected $53 million over the past three years. At GM, G. Richard Wagoner Jr. got $40.7 million over that period.
It's no secret that corporate bigwigs have paid themselves handsomely while stiffing their workers and sending jobs overseas. It's particularly galling, though, to see these same executives locking in their own lifetime of luxury while rolling the dice with their workers'

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[SoCalDem]

1. Those companies STOLE their employees' futures

They finagled give-backs for YEARS, by telling them their pension packages would be enhanced if they took less NOW.. They screwed them twice.. Gave them lower raises than they deserved, and then cracked open and ate their nest egg:(

[lonestarnot]

3. It's time to bring them down! This shit is another aspect of

the destruction of America. The top 1% control 55% of nation's wealth.

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. It's the american way.

[roguevalley]

4. I'm surprised someone hasn't stuck pitchforks through their heads.