Here is an interesting tactic that I need to employ more often. First up from Cleveland.com, here is a routine story about mass layoffs in the banking industry:
FirstMerit Corp. is eliminating 338 positions and closing eight Northeast Ohio branches as part of a concerted effort to save money.Just for fun, I Googled "FirstMerit Chairman and CEO Paul Greig" and "Compensation." Wanna know what I found? This little tidbit from back in 2010 on executive pay for the year 2009, also from Cleveland.com:
The positions are being cut as the Akron-based bank is eliminating all assistant branch manager jobs, increasing teller flexibility, eliminating redundant regional leadership posts and combining retail call support centers.
The moves were outlined by FirstMerit Chairman and CEO Paul Greig at an investor conference in London early Tuesday.
The job cuts are part of an initiative launched last fall to cut costs, and the bank's 2,997 employees were encouraged to make suggestions. About 4,000 ideas were submitted and 341 were used.
All of the cost-cutting measures should save the bank about $15 million the remainder of this year and $30 million next year.
FirstMerit said it's dealing with stricter regulations, low interest rates, a challenging economy and declining branch traffic. The bank, which is the fourth-largest based in Ohio and the 41st largest in the nation, has posted a quarterly profit for 13 straight years and said it wants to maintain that.
The bank has 206 branches and is closing eight of them in the Cleveland-Akron area and is converting a ninth one to drive-up service only. The moves will occur in August.
Company: FirstMerit CorpYou read that right, the top five executives at this bank were hauling in nearly 2/3rds of the total cost savings expected this year from laying off 338 employees. It would seem unlikely that the employees FirstMerit were encouraged to be completely honest when Greig put them through the hell of making recommendations to eliminate their own jobs, because the very first recommendation obviously should have been: cut you own fucking pay, asshole. What's even sadder is that second story was sitting right there in the newspaper's own archives, yet they didn't think that Greig and the other executives' insanely high pay was at all relevant to the story.
Headquarters: Akron
Business: Banking
Chairman, President and CEO Paul Greig: $5,907,300
Change from previous year: +22 percent
Greig received a salary of $731,088; a bonus of $250,000; stock awards of $1,599,992; non-equity incentive plan compensation of $113,246; a change in pension value and non-qualified deferred compensation earnings of $2,833,715; and other compensation of $379,259.
OTHER KEY EXECUTIVES
Terrence Bichsel: $1,346,660
Executive vice president and chief financial officer
William Richgels: $1,134,980
Executive vice president and chief operating officer
Kenneth Dorsett: $939,256
Executive vice president, wealth management services
David Goodall: $618,960
Executive vice president, commercial banking
They will never cut their own pay. We are witnessing the looting of the economy as it hollows out, with those at the top getting theirs while the getting is good. It looks just like the corruption of yesterday - firms like Bain and companies' own CEOs have operated in a similar way for a while - but there is a different quality to it nowadays. It's not taking some off the top, but scraping the bottom instead.
ReplyDeleteThis is why OWS exists as well - it was trying to call these people out on what they do... But of course it was easily put down and marginalized, and what is left is being co-opted or further marginalized.
I am being foreclosed by this monster, no heart, my bank failed and they came in and took over a profitable loan and called it in. Do not go near these montsers, they will not renew the lease.
ReplyDeleteWhat did I miss? My math comes out 1/3 not 2/3. Either way the gluttons must eat.
ReplyDeleteBELIEVE ME IN THE LONG RUN YOU MAYBE HAPPIER...THEY NEED TO CLOSE THIS BANK DOWN! ON TWO OCCASIONS I RECEIVED CHECKS AND THIS LOUSY BANK ADVISED ME THAT THEY DID NOT HAVE 5000.00 ON HAND THAT I WOULD NEED TO GIVE THEM A COUPLE OF DAYS TO ORDER IT. SERIOUSLY HOW CAN A BANK NOT HAVE MONEY IN IT? ARE THEY THAT AFRAID TO CASH A CHECK OR WAS I THE KIND OF COLOR THAT SHOULD NOT HAVE 5000. ON HAND, I PRAY THEY GO OUT OF BUSINESS WE COULD USE ANOTHER GAS STATION IN THEIR PLACE I SUPPOSE AT LEAST THE HIGH a$$ GAS IS AVAILABLE!!!
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