Exactly. I saw the article and had the same thought.
A quick look at the 03/2010 proxy statement, seen here [FONT="]
http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/DPSG/991753964x0xS950123-10-29748/1418135/filing.pdf [/FONT]shows the executive team receiving increasing salary, bonus and stock even as the business results faltered. Seems they have a different view of their own compensation. BTW, BoD members are also getting $300k each. A nice gig if you can get it.
Management
always has a different view of their compensation, and thus the need for unions to protect the worker. Its also management's job to convince the worker that they are a wonderful benevolent master who only has the worker's interests at heart and would never do anything to harm them, and also to convince them that unions will break the company and cause their jobs to go away. Many people actually fall for this bullsh@t. But real tune of their falling for it is that when the economy falters, the worker doesn't blame management, they blame unions everywhere.
While I work in another environment than corporate America. Management instituted this Distinguished Employee program. The made a huge deal about it, with pictures and plaques, and special shirts, and special briefcases and even special parking places near the offices and no performance evaluations for 2 years.
It was all a sham that few of the workers saw through. It has several components:
1. In a very short period of time, the people who were not distinguished began to fight and not talk to the people who were distinguished, causing strife in the worker ranks and keeping union activities suppressed.
2. The choice was made by a team of workers and management, but the initial offers went through management and that was confidential, so the choosing team never saw any recommendations for anyone that management didn't want.
3. An unwritten but heavy toll was put upon anyone who was named distinguished. They had to do all kinds of extra work without any extra pay because they were distinguished.
4. One of the perks was that you are expempt from performance evaluations for 2 years after being named distinguished. Workers thought this was a wonderful benefit. The reality is that this was done for management. The head manager of one of the operations realized that if he got enough of his employees named distinguished he would not have to do performance evaluations on hardly anybody, and this is exactly what he did. He also took an operation where everyone worked together tightly and turned it into a hotbed of discontent, and all the while he did less and less work, and then he suddenly retired.
Never believe that management is doing somethign for your own good even if it looks like that on the surface. Its always for their own good, and has nothing good for the worker.
Management bought NEW YORK CITY for some trinkets. The workers there thought they had a great deal, and they didn't even know who was management at the time.
What a management coup!!