Philly Newspaper Names Comcast CEO ‘Horribly Rich Boss’
July 25,2011
Philadelphia Daily News columnist Will Bunch recently asked how ultra-rich CEOs like Comcast head Brian Roberts get away with pulling in tens of millions in bonuses and corporate perks year after year while working families’ paychecks continue to shrink.
Bunch writes:
Officials at cable-and-entertainment goliath Comcast said that Philadelphia's highest-paid CEO – Brian Roberts, who got a 14-percent compensation boost last year to just more than $31 million – was rewarded with a higher bonus because Comcast stock was up sharply in 2010.
Roberts stated publicly at the depth of the recession that he was essentially freezing his base salary at Comcast – $2.8 million last year – but that didn't apply to his entire package, including bonuses.
Although Roberts' 14-percent raise was indeed less than the average CEO got both nationally and in Philadelphia, it's higher than what a typical blue-collar cable technician could expect.
And that $31 million doesn’t include use of corporate jets, which Roberts uses for all travel purposes – including vacations.
Bunch writes:
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Comcast purchased its third corporate jet – a Dassault Falcon 900, worth $40 million or more – last July. The jet made dozens of trips to Martha's Vineyard or Palm Beach, two vacation paradises where Roberts owns homes.
Comcast manages to pull in record profits – and hand out enormous executive bonuses – in part by squeezing its employees, pushing for cutbacks and busting unions.
East Windsor, N.J., Local 827 Business Agent Rich Spieler – who represents workers at three Comcast units – tells Bunch:
They are a bad, bad company – they want givebacks on everything.
As we write in the July issue of the Electrical Worker:
Comcast has a well-earned reputation as one of the most anti-union companies in the telecommunications industry. “It is the Walmart of the cable and telecommunications industry,” says Downers Grove, Ill., Local 21 Business Manager Ronald Kastner, who has been trying to organize the cable providers in the Chicago area for years. “There isn’t much they won’t do to keep unions out.”
Read more about Comcast’s CEO Brian Roberts’ record salary.
Photo used under a Creative Commons License from Flickr user The Cable Show
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