Because executive salaries are a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of a union contract. Even if they are overpaid, it isn't their salaries that are killing GM.
"Because executive salaries are a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of a union contract. Even if they are overpaid, it isn't their salaries that are killing GM."
I'd agree, it's not just the fact that they're overpaid. It's the attitude. It's like DeLay saying there's no fat in the budget. Right.
So what if the CEO G.R. Wagoner makes $12,798,572 in total compensation? And I think it's safe to assume other execs within the organization are paid in line with this figure. But it's not a billion dollars, so it doesn't matter? It's easier to focus on the employees, right?
I say both are problems, (employee pay packages and executive overpayments), and addressing one without addressing the other, is folly.
Finally, and the worst part of overpaying the execs is they have no incentive to fix the company. If I'm making $12 million a year, and I can set my bonus as I see fit regardless of what the company is doing, well... get me to the country club.
The way GM deals with it's production employees is simply a smaller scale of how they treat execs. Pay packages over and above what the work is worth. No responsibility, no accountability. No incentive or push to get them to be creative, and perform beyond expectations.
GM is a mess, but a COMPLETE mess, top down. Given the scale of pay and benefits, and the influence, it would be prudent to attack the top first.