| Overture
04-12. On Setting Compensation Standards—From the
Presbytery of New Hope.
The Presbytery of New Hope overtures the 216th General Assembly
(2004) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to do the following:
1. Set as an ideal relationship between the total compensation
for the highest paid employee (CEO) and the average of the salaries
of the non-supervisory employees as no more than 200 to 1.
2. Instruct its investment committee to initiate stockholder
resolutions on the floor of all corporations in which the Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.) holds shares, a motion to establish such a limit
of not more than 200 to 1 between the highest paid employee’s
(CEO) pay and the average of the non-supervisory employees’
salaries. A limit of not more than 200 to 1 would include the
total compensation (stock options, retirement benefit, cars,
tickets, country club memberships, etc.) of the highest paid
employee (CEO) and the average salary of the non-supervisory
employees total package.
Rationale
In the free enterprise system, in the for-profit
economy, the relationship between capital, management, production,
sales, and employees can become distorted and unjust.
The mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has been expressed
as expressing the love of God for all people by seeking to engage
in the struggle to free people from sin, fear, oppression, hunger,
and injustice; to minister to those who are poor and powerless.
One acknowledged manifestation of evil in the world is greed.
Scripture invites Christian people to free our hearts from
the love of wealth.
It is a matter of fairness, a matter of justice, a matter
of equity of value for individuals and their contribution to
the good of society that workers and management deal with each
other in an open and honest way.
The Prophet Amos and others call society into account for
the mistreatment of workers, widows, and the poor.
The current relationship between corporation executives and
non-supervisory employees has become excessively out of balance.
During the decade of 1990 to 2000, the average CEO pay went
up 463 percent compared to the rise in the average worker’s
pay increase of 42 percent.1
During the decade of 1990 to 2000, the ratio of CEO to worker
pay is nearly 411 to 1, which is now ten times larger than it
was in 1982.2
There appears to be no relationship of the CEO payment to
the value contributed: from January 1, 2001, until July 31,
2002, CEO’s whose compensation totaled more than $1.4
billion saw the value of their companies’ shares plunge
by 73 percent of their total value.3
During 2001, the CEO’s, whose own salaries increased
the most, were responsible for the firing of more than 162,000
employees.4
As stealing is the taking of that which does not belong to
you, many of the CEO’s have stolen from retirees and others
the value of their company, the value of their retirement, and
the value of their trust in the economy.
Some of these compensation rewards were given to upper management
at the same time that concessions were being requested from
labor in order to avoid bankruptcy of the corporation—in
acts of deceit and dishonesty.
Endnotes
1. Scott Klinger and Chris Hartman from United for a Fair Economy;
Sarah Anderson and John Cavanagh from Institute for Policy Studies;
and Holly Sklar. Executive Excess 2002: CEOs Cook the Books,.
Skewer the Rest of Us. August 26, 2002. Downloaded from
the Internet, www.stw.org/press/2002/EE2002.pdf. This fact was
taken from a graph on p. 17.
2. Ibid., p. 4.
3. Ibid., p. 4.
4. Ibid., p. 4.
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