This I Believe

My many years in corporate management have only cemented my belief that workers are taken advantage of at every turn.

I’ve lived my life in corporate America – more than 30 years in management of a large, financial institution, having been involved in one merger after another. I absolutely believe that American companies should not be allowed to purchase other companies and then lay off workers. A cost of growth through acquisition should be guaranteed jobs or severance-til-retirement or the landing of an equivalent job. For too long, we have victimized workers by accelerating their salaries as they developed technical skills and experience which are only good to us, ask them to work long hours away from their families, and then lay them off when they are too expensive, or in the wrong city, or when we’ve developed a technology that replaces what they learned at our urging.

I believe that successful companies should pay cost of living increases, and that all workers – full and part-time – should have health coverage. I believe that the salary differential between workers and executives is obscene and shareholders should demand it be collapsed. Of course, I’m American enough to believe that workers who put out a special effort, or reach great levels of productivity, or who come up with great ideas, should be compensated in a special way, but loyal workers, on whose effort our success depends, should not be teased with 2 and 3% increases we have the nerve to call raises for “merit”, while their ability to pay the rent and save for college and retirement is eroded.

In my company, within a couple of weeks last year, the chairman of the last company we bought left us with a severance of almost $20 million, while we pledged a relatively five hundred thousand dollars for tsunami relief. Our workers – and many of our managers – were disgusted.

I believe we can do better in the stewardship of our corporate income. There’s not a company in America which does not say “our people are our most important asset.” It’s time we behaved that way.