It has absolutely nothing to do with what you think is "ok" or not. How do you have any idea whether their senior management is "overpaid" or not? Just more left wing knee jerk reactions. The company management takes whatever steps it thinks will put it in the best competitive position. I have no idea what their compensation structure looks like, and frankly, it's irrelevant.
Maybe you should you know... find some facts... data as some call it instead of making knee jerk reactions to other people's posts. I have.
http://www.aflcio.org/Corporate-Watch/CEO-Pay-and-the-99/Trends-in-CEO-Pay
Avg CEO total compensation in 2011 is $12.9M
http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/story/2012-03-28/ceo-pay-executive-compensation/53839786/1
Median CEO Pay is $9.6M
http://insiders.morningstar.com/trading/executive-compensation.action?t=CAT®ion=USA&culture=en_US
CAT CEO total compensation for 2011 is $16.9M
According to the "market" he is 31% overpaid.... so if you're gonna cut wages of those on the bottom who are above market, then why shouldn't it apply to the CEO?
How would you know what the execs get paid and whether or not they are overpaid? Isn't that up to the company to decide?
How do you know those line employees are overpaid? Oh I know!! They are using MARKET DATA!!! Guess what? According to Market data CEO of CAT is overpaid!
It is up to the company to decide wages and according to them, if market data suggests those workers on the bottom are overpaid then the company must make cuts to their salary. However, if market data suggests CEO is overpaid then that's all hunky dory.
Why do people feel like they are somehow entitled to "share" in someone elses' profits? The deal is, you provide your work, they give you a paycheck. If you also want a share of profits or whatever other benefits, then that has to be part of your decision on whether to work there or not.
Wait, i thought GOP trickle down mantra says profits and success from the top will make their way to the bottom right? Isn't that what they've been telling us all along? If the top earners do well then won't everyone else get a trickle of their success? Or are you admitting that the GOP's totally flawed system is bull since the faucet of trickling doesn't actually have to flow in real life?
The workers are not entitled to a share of anyone else's pay, but the company should compensate ALL of its employees by applying the same principles that are based on the market AND performance of the company, and not only apply it selectively to executives and non-executives.
If the profits of the company are used to pay those employees and the upper management then who's to say the company's profits belong only to the upper management? In other words, why should the executives take salary away only from the lower tier works to compensate for their overpaid costs? If they want to seriously control costs then they should do it to the executive level as well.