Federation’s ‘Executive Paywatch’ shows greed at the top

Last year, CEO pay at S&P 500 companies increased 6% over the previous year—to an average of $17.7 million in total compensation.

“High CEO-to-worker pay ratios contribute to economic inequality and can undermine employee morale and productivity,” according to the AFL-CIO’s new “Executive Paywatch,” its annual report on CEO compensation.

“While the disclosure requirements for how companies treat their workers are limited, publicly traded companies have been required to disclose their median employee-to-CEO pay ratios since 2018,” the report states. “In 2023, the average CEO-to-worker pay ratio for S&P 500 companies was 268-to-1.

Workers earning the median (or midpoint) of an S&P 500 company payroll would have had to start working in 1755 (prior to the start of the American Revolution) to earn what the average CEO received in 2023, “Paywatch” says.

At the worst offending company – Provo, Utah-based Nu Skin Cosmetics, which paid CEO Ryan Napierski $5,838,579 last year – the disparity is shocking. Napierski got 10,377 times what Nu Skin’s median worker made. That ratio is so huge, said federation Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond, that the worker would have to start working for Nu Skin from “before the invention of writing” thousands of years ago through now to equal what the CEO took home last year in compensation.

“Our economy works best when corporations act responsibly toward their employees, their customers, the environment and local communities,” commented the AFL-CIO. “Yet too many corporate CEOs choose management strategies for short-term gains that undermine their companies, their workers and our communities in the long term.

“Workers are coming together to advocate for better working conditions, including family-sustaining wages and benefits, and it’s paying off,” the federation added. “But sadly, ultra-rich CEOs will continue to pay themselves exorbitant wages without transparency.”

The report itself says, “The ratio of CEO-to-worker pay is important. A higher pay ratio could be a sign that companies suffer from a winner-take-all philosophy, where executives reap the lion’s share of compensation. A lower pay ratio could indicate the companies that are dedicated to creating high-wage jobs and investing in their employees for the company’s long-term health.”

This stark difference, too-typical, also offers a context to Americans’ concern about inflation. In 2023, prices that companies pay fell by 3% while consumer prices rose 3%, boosting corporate profits and CEO pay.

Here’s a sample of CEO pay at companies of interest to Illinoisans:

* Archer-Daniels-Midland (now headquartered in Chicago) paid CEO Juan Ricardo Luciano $24,414,668 – a ratio of 300-1 what ADM’s median pay is.

* Caterpillar (now based in Irving, Texas) paid CEO James Umpleby $25,830,332 for a ratio of 434 to 1.

* Deere & Co. (Moline) paid CEO John C. May $26,722,519 for a ratio of 284 to 1.

* Mcdonalds Corp. (Chicago) paid CEO Christopher Kempczinski $19,155,001 for a ratio of 1,212 to 1

* Methode Electronics (Chicago) paid CEO Donald Duda $3,088,086 for a ratio of 285 to 1.

* RLI (Peoria) paid CEO Craig W. Kliethermes $5,185,452 for a ratio of 40 to 1.

 

To read the whole Executive Paywatch, google “afl-cio executive paywatch 2024.”

A creepy horror story: Project 2025

Days before Hurricane Debby hit Florida on Aug. 4, the head of the campaign to replace the National Hurricane Center resigned.

Paul Dans quit, but Project 2025’s scheme to dump the hurricane center plus the allied National Weather Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (because their research about climate change “is harmful to future U.S. prosperity”) remains alive, an “undead” document somewhere between a zombie and a vampire, able to eat the brains and suck the blood from democracy.

Coordinated by the Right-wing Heritage Foundation, the 920-page Project 2025 (“Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise”) would upend American life. A whirlwind of hard-right dreams, its proposals range from ousting some 50,000 civil servants and replacing them with Trump loyalists to reversing the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of medications used in abortions.

Project 2025 would severely cut or dismantle parts of the federal government people appreciate, such as help for the needy (making it harder to get food stamps, killing Head Start, limiting funding for states’ Medicaid programs); defund public broadcasting; reverse protections against housing discrimination; eliminate the Department of Education; and defund the Justice Department and limit FBI duties.

In July, Trump claimed he knows nothing about it (yet also “disagrees” with some of it), but at least 140 ex-Trump officials contributed to it, according to CNN, including dozens from Trump’s administration, including Mark Meadows, Stephen Miller, Ben Carson and Peter Navarro. And it mirrors the Trump campaign’s “Agenda 47” and the GOP platform.

Trump denying any involvement also was proven false when The New Republic magazine reported a 2022 clip of Trump praising Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts for laying “the groundwork for exactly what our movement will do.”

Meanwhile, a YouGov poll in July showed 39% of U.S. adult citizens oppose Project 2025, but 42% have heard nothing about it.

However, “Americans are starting to learn about this extreme takeover plan for Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans to quickly dismantle checks and balances, amass unprecedented presidential power, and seize total control over our government and our individual freedoms,” said U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman, (D-Calif.).

Dans, Project 2025 director, Paul Dans, quit after criticism from Trump’s campaign, trying to put distance between the candidate and the plan.  But the Associated Press reported Roberts saying, “Our collective efforts to build a personnel apparatus for policymakers of all levels — federal, state, and local — will continue.”

Indeed, Project 2025 is beyond one guy. Its database of about 20,000 Trump followers are ready to implement the plan – or anything Trump wants.

Russell Vought, a Project 2025 adviser and Trump’s Office of Management and Budget director, told Politico, “We have to be thinking mechanically about how to take these institutions over.”

Conservatives and progressives are alarmed. Kevin Kosar, senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute think tank, has concerns about replacing experts with political appointees.

“These positions have a serious degree of expertise attached. You can't just plug in a private-sector businessman into the Department of Transportation. It's going to be a challenge to match the people and the competencies and the expertise." 

Michael Bromwich, a former Department of Justice inspector general, said proposals to turn the departments into "instruments" to fulfill Trump's political agenda "should send shivers down the spine of anyone who cares about the rule of law."

Project 2025’s effects will dramatically impact everyday Americans, from Panama City to Peoria: workers, consumers, farmers, veterans and taxpayers:

Workers: Targeting building trades, Project 2025 would get rid of Prevailing Wage pay and Project Labor Agreements on federal projects. Also, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees said, “His plan would take power away from working people and give him unprecedented levels of control over our lives” and listed threats including: letting states ban unions in the public sector; making it easier for corporations to fire workers who engage in collective action; allowing employers to get rid of unions even when workers have a signed contract; eliminating workers’ overtime protections; ignoring the federal minimum wage; and eliminating federal rules that protect children from working in dangerous workplaces like mines and meatpacking plants.

AFSCME is partnering with the Alliance for Retired Americans to stop Project 2025’s attacks on Medicare. Also, says AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler, Project 2025 would legalize company-controlled “unions,” weaken Occupational Safety and Health Act enforcement and penalties, drop the mandate for companies to disclose when they hire union-busting consultants, and “eliminate protections against discrimination and harassment on the job.”

Consumers: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (set up to ensure consumers have access to fair, transparent and competitive markets) could be killed.

“There is an extensive, well-documented set of plans to overturn post-crisis policies that protect consumers, investors, and the stable functioning of financial markets,” says Madeline Shepherd of the Center for American Progress.

Farmers: The Conservation Reserve Program (used by more than 300,000 farms) would be eliminated; the percentage of crop-insurance premiums the U.S. government covers would drop, cutting the Agricultural Risk and Price Loss programs.

Veterans: Even those who’ve served in the military will be affected. (That shouldn’t be surprising coming from Trump – “a person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them’,” said Trump’s longest-serving Chief of Staff, John Kelly, “a person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me,’ a person who rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.”)

Project 2025 calls for a 50% reduction of the federal workforce, where veterans make up about 30% of the total; restricting vets’ disability benefits and eliminating overlapping eligibility for retirement and disability benefits for them; and closing “low-priority” VA medical-care enrollment; and privatizing the Pentagon’s TRICARE system, the health-care program for active-duty service members.

Taxpayers: Project 2025 would “promote prosperity” by lowering the costs of capital and cutting income taxes, according to Certified Financial Planner Kate Dore, eliminating most deductions, credits and exclusions but creating a consumption tax like a national sales tax.

 

As expressed by New York University professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat, author of “Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present,” Project 2025 is “a recipe for mass chaos, abuses of power, and dysfunction in government.”

Happy Labor Day!

This Labor Day, take a break: Go to a Labor Day parade, enjoy your family, have a cookout, and thank your union – and the three-fourths of Americans who support organized labor.

There’s good news.

Popular support for unions is at an all-time high, according to Gallup – 71%. Plus, younger Americans often and unfairly written off as slackers aren’t far behind. “Generation Z” – those born in the late 1990s and early 2000s – also back unions: 64%, according to the Center for American Progress (CAP).

And they’re organizing.

The increase in support by younger Americans reflects the “heavy concentration of power among big corporations and the elites that run them, and unions are a counterbalance to the strength of corporate power on the one hand and sort of shifts some of that power to workers,” commented Adam Cobb, an associate professor at University of Texas who studies unions.

Diego Quintanilla, a 23-year-old Texas sheet metal worker, last month told CBS News, “We seem to really care about fairness and equality in the workplace. We all kind of want to get paid a good amount of money for the work that we're putting in.”

Organized labor remains important despite years of resistance and worse by those interests that Cobb cited.

Elsewhere, CAP details why, reminding the nation of four main reasons unions are still vital and vibrant.

“Unions are a critical force in American society, ensuring that everyday Americans can earn decent pay and benefits and have a voice in our democracy,” write CAPS’ Sarah Nadeau and Madeline Shepherd. “Study after study has shown that unions make our economy and democracy stronger by boosting wages for workers, reducing wage inequality, increasing voter turnout for union and nonunion voters alike, and providing a counterbalance to wealthy interest groups.

“Unfortunately, decades of attacks on unions, weak U.S. labor laws, and a changing economy have caused union membership to steadily decline,” they continue. “However, in recent years, the popularity and activity of unions has grown to levels not seen in decades, bolstering their ability to deliver on these benefits.”

* a consequence of the decline in union membership is the impact on income inequality throughout the country. (CAP reports that the decline of unions was 33.9% responsible for rising income inequality, with 41.3% due to an education gap, and 24.8% all other factors);

* unions raise wages for all workers of all backgrounds

* unions are the most effective group with a mass constituency to represent working-class AND middle-class interests; and

* unions increase citizens’ participation in our democracy.

 

Meanwhile, at the Washington State Labor Council conference in mid-July, titled “Reclaiming Worker Power and Energizing our Movement,” WSLC President April Sims stressed the importance of political involvement, especially at this time of a rise of anti-worker, Right-wing ideology.

Addressing delegates from a cross-section of organized labor, including fire fighters, UA plumbers and pipefitters, SEIU Healthcare, teachers and Teamsters, she said, “Fascism is the opposite of organized labor, a movement that has been the principal force in this country for turning misery and despair into hope and progress, in the words of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. We must continue to be that force.

“Fascists are organized,” she continued. “They are empowered in this moment. They believe that they will win. But they will not. Working people will not let them.”

Organized labor is a beacon of light in such dark times, Sims added.

“At a time when trust in our foundational institutions is wavering, when political violence and charged rhetoric is rising, unions remain a place of unity, and of hope,” she said.

And CAP emphasized the value of our movement.

“Workers are better off when they have a collective voice,” CAP shows. “They earn more in the labor market and can better stand up for their interests in democracy. Stronger unions are associated with higher wages and wealth, more engaged citizens, and a stronger middle class. As policymakers strive to make the economy work for everyone, they should be sure to include in their solutions policies that increase worker voice and power.”

Have a great holiday.

June death at Cat plant was third in 30 months there

About 5 p.m. on June 6, Daulton Simmers, 28, of West Peoria, died in an accident at Cat foundry within the corporation’s Mapleton plant 13 miles southwest of Peoria. It was the third fatality there in about 30 months.

Seven weeks later, Democratic House members in Washington introduced a measure “aimed at bolstering protections for America’s workers and ensuring accountability for employers who flout labor and employment laws.”

Their Labor Enforcement to Securely (LET’S) Protect Workers Act was introduced by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) — ranking member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce — and House Labor Caucus Co-Chairs Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Donald Norcross (D-N.J.), and Steven Horsford (D-Nev.).

The measure would increase penalties for health and safety violations and would close a loophole letting employers avoid penalties for not keeping records. The group noted workplace injuries, wage theft and union busting by employers that “know that even if a resource-starved Department of Labor catches a violation, the penalties are a mere slap on the wrist.”

Simmers, a supplemental worker who’d started at Cat less than two months earlier, was trying to transfer molten metal from a furnace into a smaller container when the super-heated material spilled and engulfed him. Peoria County Sheriff Chris Watkin she died instantly.

The Peoria office of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) opened its case on June 6 and continues to investigate.

Earlier fatalities include Cat worker Steven Dierkes, a 39-year-old Peorian, who in June of 2022, died in a fall into an 11-foot pot of iron heated to more than 2,000 degrees. OSHA reported that about 11 that morning, Dierkes, who was new to the job, was on a melt deck using a tool to collect an iron sample when he lost his balance and fell into the vat.

OSHA investigated and determined that Caterpillar had not installed required safety measures. Federal safety regulations require employers to install guardrails and restraint systems, or to cover or otherwise eliminate the hazard to protect workers from falls into dangerous equipment.

“Caterpillar’s failure to meet its legal responsibilities to ensure the safety and health of workers leaves this worker’s family, friends and co-workers to grieve needlessly,” said Peoria’s former OSHA Area Director Christine Zortman then. “We implore employers to review the agency specific regulations to protect workers from falls into equipment in industrial settings.”

Citing Caterpillar for a willful violation, OSHA proposed fines totaling $145,027, but the agency’s Inspection Detail report is not closed, indicating the employer is contesting the fine.

 “A worker’s life could have been spared if Caterpillar had made sure required safety protections were in place, a fact that only adds to this tragedy,” said OSHA Regional Administrator Bill Donovan in Chicago. “Producing more than 150,000 tons each year, Caterpillar’s foundry is one of the nation’s largest and they should be acutely aware of industry regulations to protect workers using smelters and other dangerous equipment.”

Months before, in December 2021, 50-year-old Scott Adams of East Peoria perished in a 20-foot fall at Mapleton, where some 800 people work.

A member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers employed by subcontractor Schaefer Electric (Tegco Inc.), Adams was preparing a bid for a job by lead contractor Illinois Crane, and he stepped off a ladder and fell about 20 feet through a hole to his death.

OSHA cited Illinois Crane with one willful violation for failing to ensure the use of personal fall arrest systems and adequate floor hole covers or guardrail systems, and the agency proposed a fine of $87,016 against Illinois Crane.

Shaefer Electric also was cited, for a serious violation for failing to inspect the job site and evaluate for hazards, and to train workers to recognize fall hazards or take appropriate safety precautions to minimize danger. The agency proposed $10,151 in penalties.

OSHA said Adams’ death was avoidable.

“Our investigation found that the use of required fall protection could have prevented this tragedy,” said Peoria’s former OSHA Area Director Barry Salerno then. “Falls are one of the leading causes of serious injuries and deaths in the construction industry, and too often employees work at heights greater than six feet without fall safety equipment. Employers are legally obligated to follow safety standards and protect workers.”

Initially fined a total of $116,021, the two employers eventually paid a total of $43,508 in a settlement, and the case is closed.

Meanwhile, a GoFundMe page has raised more than $10,000 for Simmers’ funeral expenses and family assistance.

And in Washington, the House Democrats advocating for reforms said, “People should be able to come home at the end of the day — alive, well, in one piece, and with all the wages they worked hard to earn.”

Police probe sees proof of embezzlement, but closes case against the late CEO

The first of at least three investigations into suspected financial wrongdoing at WTVP-TV 47 shows likely embezzlement and forgery in recent years, but after a 10-month inquiry, the Peoria Police Department requested the case be closed at this time, according to an Aug. 6 police report.

Their recommendation conceded that there was probable cause for charges against former CEO Lesley Matuszak, but she is dead. Regarding a second person who WTVP officials in January named as possibly involved – former Finance and Human Resources Director Lin McLaughlin – “probable cause has not been reached for her arrest unless she is able to be communicated with,” police said.

Heavily redacted, Peoria Police Department (PPD) criminal reports, obtained by the Community Word through a Freedom of Information Act request, say the PPD probe started last Nov. 7 after an audit showed “some problems with the answers provided on what should be some fairly simple questions,” said PPD, which noted it talked that day with four unnamed board members, legal counsel and others.

In a joint statement, current WTVP Board Chair John Wieland and CEO Jenn Gordon said, “This has been a sad chapter in the life of WTVP. Someone lost their life; friends and a family are grieving. We feel deeply for them, as well as for the members, viewers and donors of WTVP who have been impacted. We appreciate the work of the Peoria Police Department. We hope this report provides some closure for the community.” The community wasn’t informed about financial questions at WTVP although station leaders were alerted in July 2023 by the National Education Telecommunication Association that WTVP investment funds had been moved. The police reports don’t explain why it took the previous board more than two months to ask for a meeting with Matuszak and McLaughlin to answer questions, 12 more days to announce problems at a public meeting, six additikonal weeks to involve the police, and another month for years of credit-card statements to be provided to investigators.

Before the proposed meeting with Matuscaz and McLaughlin could be held, McLaughlin resigned on Sept.

19, Matuszak resigned on Sept. 27 and then she committed suicide the next day.

After reviewing a WTVP credit-card statement with what appeared to be unusual purchases, some unnamed male responsible for “signing off on invoices after they processed …noticed some questionable significant charges from Saks Fifth Avenue and a lot of Michigan Avenue-style clothes that are not appropriate to be on the credit card statement,” PPD reported.

Last October, ex-board chair Andrew Rand said there had been “questionable, improper or unauthorized” spending, and the board cut $1.5 million from its budget, laid off nine employees and shut down its Peoria magazine (which had contributed to an $870,000 shortfall, according to an internal audit released later). The credit-card statements given to Peoria Police in December totaled some 4,000 pages, and police eventually reviewed 335 pages – almost 10% of which “appeared to be conspicuous, as it did not resemble expenses related to the regular operation of WTVP,” PPD said, “ – $46,796.36.”

Meanwhile, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s investigation is an audit by its inspector general, which was expected last month but has not been released. The CPB is withholding grant money to WTVP pending results. Also, the Illinois Attorney General’s investigation is ongoing, that office confirmed to the Community Word.

As for Channel 47’s fiscal procedures, Gordon and Wieland commented, “Internally, we have implemented financial controls and accounting practices to ensure that fiscal responsibility and oversight is at the core of our operations. Mark Lasswell was promoted to Chief Compliance Officer to assure we comply with all state and federal requirements. As we move forward, we are focusing on building a very bright future where WTVP can impact and serve central Illinois for many years to come.”

 

Police found four areas of concern

Unauthorized liquidation of funds: Without authorization, Matuszak had $320,000 transferred from WTVP’s investment account with Cypress Asset Management to the station’s checking account, and used another $100,000 from its line of credit at PNC Bank, “believed to be done to hide the misappropriation of funds,” PPD said. “The Director of Finance and Human Relations [then McLaughlin] … was approving a lot of the fraudulent activity, either through incompetence or personal gain.”    Credit card: A list of what the station considered improper transactions from November 2019 to September 2023 totaled $375,017, and the 335 pages of documents police were able to examine “made up a total of $731,665.89 worth of submitted expenses by Lesley,” PPD said. Some are assumed to have been legitimate. “There appears to be no questioning of the obvious personal expenses by Lesley [by those responsible to do so],” police said. “It was all coded as WTVP operational expenses.”    Besides purchases at Saks, acquisitions occurred at Bergdorf Goodman, which specializes in expensive brands such as Gucci and Prada. Other unusual charges included payments to seven insurance companies for what looks to be personal coverage; a donation to state Rep. Ryan Spain (prohibited by law for nonprofits); travel, including golf outings; car expenses beyond Matuszak’s $500 monthly car stipend from her contract with WTVP; and paying a phone bill for the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Peoria. (Matuszak and McLaughlin had worked together for about 18 years and had been employed at the Boys and Girls Club.)   Questionable reimbursements: Among some $500,000 in reimbursements the station made to Matuszak over almost four years, some without documentation, were her membership dues to the Creve Coeur Club and the Peoria Country Club.    Luxury auctions: Three such purported fundraisers were held in October 2020, November 2021 and November 2022, and “supposedly sold at that auction,” PPD said, were “higher-end” items such as two jeweled tennis bracelets costing $10,000 and $16,000 and an unidentified $30,000 purchase. Police said items totaling $88,285.01 included goods from Dior ($14,497.88), Brom’s Furs & Fashions ($36,000) and Potter & Andeson ($17,101).    “The money never came in to the bank account, nor was it recorded as revenue,” PPD said.    Further, the top three auction donors received nothing, said PPD, adding, the goods “have yet to be located.” One donor denied signing a $100,000 invoice from the auction, “indicating Lesley had forged [a] signature for receipt of the itemized jewelry,” PPD said.