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CEO Pay Is Out Of Control

Last year American CEOs pocketed, on average, $11.7 million in 2013 compared to the average worker who earned $35,293. That means CEOs were paid 331 times that of the average worker.
And the pay gap between CEOs and minimum wage workers is more than twice as wide — 774 times. 
The 2014 AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch, released today, shows that CEO pay has skyrocketed, while working families' ability to make ends meet has floundered. We face stagnant wages and an uncertain future for unemployment insurance for long-term jobless workers. A woman still earns 77 cents for every dollar a man earns, and our country's minimum wage is a joke.
Think about this: Full-time minimum wage employees would have to work 580 hours just to equal a single hour of T-Mobile CEO John Legere's pay. 
Ellen, a T-Mobile customer service representative in Wichita, Kan., tells her story atwww.PayWatch.org. She writes:
I troubleshoot everything, from handset issues to rate plan questions to billing problems. I have been working at T-Mobile for nearly two years. I make $11.46 an hour.
As a single mother with two adorable children, Jude and Lyla, I don’t earn enough money to make ends meet, so I still have to rely on government assistance, including food stamps and subsidized day care.
I like helping people. That’s why I chose customer service. I try to find the best solution to a customer’s needs. I like to think that I enable people all over the United States to get the most they can from their wireless devices.
My work is very stressful. Sometime callers are angry about previous service or something is not right about their service or their bill. The company expects me to be smooth and reassuring, regardless of the customer. The company expects me to solve the problem in 370 seconds—a little more than six minutes. Otherwise, I am dinged on my performance metrics, and those metrics determine any bonus I may receive or the shift I will work.
I am expected to be on the phone 96% of the time I am at work. The other 4% is really a buffer. If I am on a call that runs into my scheduled break or lunchtime, it counts against my commitment to schedule. This is hard for me but impossible for some of my pregnant co-workers. They are forced to clock out (and lose income) just to use the bathroom.
I fear for my job not because I am doing poorly but because I am an at-will employee, as the company is fond of reminding me. The company can make life so miserable for you that you will quit. Or my metrics might slip and I could get a schedule that wouldn’t work with my kids. Or management just may get tired of my union activism.
I am a proud and active member in CWA-TU, the union of T-Mobile workers, and my hope is that someday workers at T-Mobile will have better pay, working conditions and the respect all workers deserve.
Be sure to read more testimonials from workers at Walmart, Kellogg’s, Reynolds and Darden Restaurants and compare your own pay to the pay of top executives at www.PayWatch.org. 

Last year American CEOs pocketed, on average, $11.7 million in 2013 compared to the average worker who earned $35,293. That means CEOs were paid 331 times that of the average worker.

And the pay gap between CEOs and minimum wage workers is more than twice as wide — 774 times. 

The 2014 AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch, released today, shows that CEO pay has skyrocketed, while working families' ability to make ends meet has floundered. We face stagnant wages and an uncertain future for unemployment insurance for long-term jobless workers. A woman still earns 77 cents for every dollar a man earns, and our country's minimum wage is a joke.

Think about this: Full-time minimum wage employees would have to work 580 hours just to equal a single hour of T-Mobile CEO John Legere's pay. 

Ellen, a T-Mobile customer service representative in Wichita, Kan., tells her story at www.PayWatch.org. She writes:

I troubleshoot everything, from handset issues to rate plan questions to billing problems. I have been working at T-Mobile for nearly two years. I make $11.46 an hour.

As a single mother with two adorable children, Jude and Lyla, I don’t earn enough money to make ends meet, so I still have to rely on government assistance, including food stamps and subsidized day care.

I like helping people. That’s why I chose customer service. I try to find the best solution to a customer’s needs. I like to think that I enable people all over the United States to get the most they can from their wireless devices.

My work is very stressful. Sometime callers are angry about previous service or something is not right about their service or their bill. The company expects me to be smooth and reassuring, regardless of the customer. The company expects me to solve the problem in 370 seconds—a little more than six minutes. Otherwise, I am dinged on my performance metrics, and those metrics determine any bonus I may receive or the shift I will work.

I am expected to be on the phone 96% of the time I am at work. The other 4% is really a buffer. If I am on a call that runs into my scheduled break or lunchtime, it counts against my commitment to schedule. This is hard for me but impossible for some of my pregnant co-workers. They are forced to clock out (and lose income) just to use the bathroom.

I fear for my job not because I am doing poorly but because I am an at-will employee, as the company is fond of reminding me. The company can make life so miserable for you that you will quit. Or my metrics might slip and I could get a schedule that wouldn’t work with my kids. Or management just may get tired of my union activism.

I am a proud and active member in CWA-TU, the union of T-Mobile workers, and my hope is that someday workers at T-Mobile will have better pay, working conditions and the respect all workers deserve.

Be sure to read more testimonials from workers at Walmart, Kellogg’s, Reynolds and Darden Restaurants, and compare your own pay to the pay of top executives at www.PayWatch.org.